Set on Australia’s most controversial national holiday, the story interweaves the struggles of three Australians from diverse backgrounds, April Tucker, a 14-year-old Indigenous girl, Sami Ghaznavi, a 17-year-old Persian boy, and Lan Chang, a 19-year-old Chinese teen. Their colliding worlds illuminate the contemporary issues of racial tension and national identity that simmer beneath the surface of modern Australia.
Director: Kriv Stenders
Cast: Bryan Brown, Jenny Wu, Shari Sebbens, Miah Madden, Daniel Webber, Sean Keenan, Elias Anton, Matthew Le Nevez, Phoenix Raei
Australia Day
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An ambitious and powerful, if necessarily convenient, multi-character drama in the mold of 2006 Oscar-winner “Crash,” “Australia Day” is a meditation on cultural diversity and the questioning of national identity.
Variety - Eddie Cockrell
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Run Lola Run meets Gran Torino in Kriv Stenders’s breathtakingly fast-moving Australia Day, a very well-made thriller set in Brisbane on January 26… An excellent ensemble cast brings the characters vividly to life…
The Weekend Australian – David Stratton
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Australia Day is a gruelling journey through the streets of Brisbane and subterranean national prejudices, but it does have a lot of heart and features some excellent performances.
The Adelaide Review – DM Bradley
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Sincere, ambitious, and truthful, this is an Aussie film worth celebrating.
FilmInk – Erin Free
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…demonstrating the immense acting talent in Australia’s multicultural community.
Hunter and Bligh – Tom Bensley
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Performances throughout positively breathe with conviction.
3AW693 News Talk – Jim Schembri
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Australia Day immediately becomes the frontrunner for best Australian film of the year.
Scenestr – Lloyd Marken
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Taking one of the most loaded terms in Australian history as its titular provocation, Australia Day asks us to think about what one might be running towards – and whether ineffective systemic management of inbred injustice can amount to anything more than a dead end.
Desistfilm - Tara Judah
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A fascinating take on the cultural tension that lurks beneath the surface of our country's modern society, Australia Day has been called 'provocative" (The Daily Telegraph) and 'energetic" (Screendaily), with Variety likening it to 2006's Oscar®-winner, Crash.
Cast & Creatives
on the film
“To me, Australia Day is a vital story that reveals what really divides and binds us, what is hidden and what is in clear view. It examines what we have become, where we are possibly headed and how we are still perhaps capable of re-determining our future.” - Kriv Stenders, Director’s Statement
“I just love telling Australian stories. Can you imagine being in a country where you never saw a film about yourself – about who you were? That would be horrible.” - Bryan Brown
“The wonderful thing about this movie is that you have these wonderful female characters carrying the story – very strong women who are fighting for what they believe in and they're almost behaving in a masculine way and it's not a bad thing, it's a great thing because they are fighting against the odds.” - Jenny Wu
“I feel like it's the undercurrent of Australia's racism that we don't see, that we don't like to acknowledge, especially on beautiful, sunny, beachy days like Australia Day.” - Shari Sebbens
“Racism is a very big thing in Australia – we're one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world – although it can be quite hidden and quite subtle, racism is a very big problem and it's not just Australians targeting ethnics, even ethnics are very similar… - Elias Anton
The West Australian
Annelies Gartner from The West Australian interviews Jenny Wu regarding her involvement in Australia Day.
“You look at Lan and Terry; he is the old Australian meeting the new Australian because she just came to Australia and is trying to redefine her identity in a new country,” she explains.
“What does that mean for her, what does the national holiday mean to these other Australians or what does the Australian identity mean?
“Obviously race is a huge part of that because there are a lot of different races."
TV TONIGHT - cinematic & on demand release
TV TONIGHT - Sydney Film Festival Premiere
Sydney Morning Herald - Kriv Stenders on production
FilmInk - Project Announcement
TV TONIGHT - Project Announcement