Press & Updates
imagineNative
October 2013
Australia • 120 minutes • 2013
ARTISTS IN ATTENDANCE!
The powerfully evocative Mystery Road sizzles hotter than the Australian sun. Jay – a police detective (played masterfully by Aaron Pedersen) – returns to his rural hometown and begins working on his first ever homicide case (the death of a teenaged girl). Throughout his investigation, cooperation from the locals and, even more puzzling, from his own police force, is proving difficult. As if that wasn’t burden enough, his own daughter won’t speak to him and his estranged wife has yet to quell a demon that, at one time, had also held Jay in its grip. Set against the beautifully stark and lonely Australian Outback, Mystery Road moves with precision and intensity as it drives the audience to the film’s kinetic climax. Compelling writing and subtly nuanced performances breathe life into a world of shadows where it’s hard not to ask the question: ‘Whom can you trust on Mystery Road?’ Featuring performances by Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix) and Ryan Kwanten (True Blood).
Directed by:IVAN SEN
Visionary filmmaker Ivan Sen garnered international acclaim for his first feature film, Beneath Clouds, which screened at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, imagineNATIVE (2004), and won the Premiere First Award at the Berlin Film Festival, as well as the Best Director Award at the Australian Film Institute. His second feature, Dreamland, premiered at imagineNATIVE (2010). His recent feature Toomelah screened at the 2012 imagineNATIVE Festival after premiering at the Cannes International Film Festival 2011 – Un Certain Regard where the film received a standing ovation.
