In Absentia

The first instalment in a series of four short works - each able to stand alone. Intense explorations, fragmented encounters. Characters seem trapped in space in existential dilemmas.

An experimental film with no narrative but the presentation of images and sequences of the Australian landscape interspersed with some interiors. The human figure is present to some degree, being seen in black flitting through certain scenes and in some of the interiors.

A man is released from prison and moves into a deserted city building with a woman friend, where he reluctantly becomes involved with a production of Hamlet. Haunted by the uncertainty of his past, together with his guilt for existing, he becomes more and more like Shakespeare’s infamous Dane.

Filmed on location in Melbourne this is a tale of justice and revenge when two cops decide that the court system has failed and it is now up to them to take the law into their own hands. Cast includes Ian Scott, Elizabeth Huntley, Jan Friedl, James Clayden, John Howard, Stephen Cummins, Barry Dickins, Joe Dolce, Nigel Buesst, Neil Gladwin. Music by Chris Knowles, Stephen Cummins, Ollie Olsen. Director of photography, Laurie McInnes.