After a break of over three years, the London Australian Film Festival is returning to London screens with a taste of the latest and greatest cinema that Australia has to offer, including two London premieres, a cracking anniversary screening, short film programmes, and a special strand dedicated to Yolŋu actor David Gulpilil.
This week-long series of screenings and events in early November sees the festival return to the wonderful surrounds of the Regent Street Cinema, and hop across Covent Garden to the art deco
splendour of their new partner venue, The Garden Cinema.
Central to the 2022 festival is LAFF’s tribute to a true legend of Australian cinema, Yolŋu actor and dancer David Gulpilil. Presented in association with the Menzies Australia Institute (King’s College London), the Gulpilil season kicks off with an opening gala screening (Saturday 5 November) of remarkable documentary portrait, My Name is Gulpilil (8pm) at Regent Street Cinema, followed by an exclusive pre-recorded Q&A with director Molly Reynolds. The celebration of Gulpilil’s life and work continues at The Garden Cinema (8-10 November), with Walking with Gulpilil (6:30pm, Tues 8 Nov), which includes an illustrated talk by LAFF programmer and Australian cinema expert Dr Stephen Morgan, followed by a programme of rare short films, including work by Warwick Thornton and Darlene Johnson. This is followed by a pair of double bills highlighting Gulpilil’s singular screen presence: Peter Weir’s quasi-folk horror classic, The Last Wave (6pm, Weds 9 Nov), plays alongside frontier chamber drama, and Gulpilil’s first collaboration with Dutch-Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer, The Tracker (8:15pm, Weds 9 Nov), whilst Ivan Sen’s sequel to outback noir Mystery Road, Goldstone (6pm, Thurs 10 Nov), leads into Gulpilil’s crowning achievement, Charlie’s Country (8:30pm, Thurs 10 Nov), a film that he co-wrote, and for which he won the Best Actor prize at Cannes.
On Saturday November 12 at The Garden Cinema, LAFF hosts a special collection of recent Australian shorts from its partners at Australian Short Film Today (6pm), followed by a very special 25th anniversary screening of legendary Australian comedy, The Castle (8.45pm).
The festival returns to Regent Street Cinema for the closing gala (Sun 13 Nov), and continues its tradition of presenting the work of debut feature filmmakers, with a screening of Renèe Webster’s hilarious new comedy, How to Please a Woman (7:30pm), followed by a live Q&A with the film’s star, Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’ Diary, Smack the Pony), and producer Judi Levine (The Sessions, Falling for Figaro).
