WRITTEN, PRODUCED and DIRECTED BY
Rama Nicholas and Adam McKenzie
*** WINNER BEST ACTOR - EVELYN KRAPE - Tropfest 2019 ***
(This award was also won by Shabana Azeez for her role in "Crush")
- STARRING -
Evelyn Krape, Adam McKenzie, Ekta Sharma,
Rama Nicholas, Simon Oats, Tegan Higginbotham,
Danny Alder, Claire Constantinou & Paul Verhoeven
- SYNOPSIS -
June, a sweet, elderly lady gets a hearing aid after years of being hearing impaired. She keeps her new hearing aid a secret from her family because she wants it to be a wonderful surprise. When her family arrive for dinner, June quickly realises some things are better left unheard.
- CREW -
TOM CHAPMAN
Director of Photography
BEAU OAKLEY
Sound Recordist
LACHLAN WRIGHT
1st Assistant Camera
ANDREW KIRKMAN
Gaffer
ADAM McKENZIE
Editor
RAMA NICHOLAS
Production Designer
TEGAN HIGGINBOTHAM
Art Department
ADAM CALAITZIS
Sound Mixer
- DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT -
As first time filmmakers we are so proud to present ‘Can You Hear Me?’ to Tropfest 27 for consideration.
Our vision for this film was to tell a story of an elderly woman’s journey, not only because we felt elderly women are underrepresented in stories in general but as we developed the character and story it became apparent to us the importance of elder stories as some of the most vulnerable amongst us. Our goal was to use dark comedy to show how elderly Australians sometimes become forgotten or disregarded. June’s ultimate revenge is a way for her to take back some power that her family have stolen from her. We didn’t want her to be a victim. We wanted her to have a real “Screw You!” moment at the end.
The first inspiration for the story came about from real-life events. In 2018 there was an Australia wide obsession with a $55 million dollar lottery draw that was won by a single unregistered ticket and the winner failed to come forth. Months went by and the obsession continued. Who could this winner be? Where is the ticket?
We began to make up stories of who this person could be and what happened to the ticket. ‘Can You Hear Me?’ was born from one of these stories.
As storytellers we love twists, turns and the unexpected. We love stories about unlikely underdogs overcoming the everyday villains. We love stories that are infused with comedy but don’t shy away from drama. We want to take the audience on an emotional roller-coaster. We also love juicy endings.
As a married team our creative partnership was shared in every way and this was an important part of our creative vision for the film. To support, inspire and challenge each other through every step. It was important to us to create a feeling of family and ease on shoot day and to be generous with our time and energy. And of course... to have fun.
We would also like to say that this film was made possible because of the incredible hard work from both the cast and crew.
18 июн 2019
