Film & TV

Acclaimed short “Too Dark” leads South Australian charge at St Kilda Film Festival

Too Dark, a short film from Adelaide filmmaking team Snake Pit – director Sean Lahiff, producer Michael Clarkin and screenwriter David Haddin – leads the South Australian selections for the Academy Awards accredited St Kilda Film Festival.

too dark

Too Dark, a short film from Adelaide filmmaking team Snake Pit – director Sean Lahiff, producer Michael Clarkin and screenwriter David Haddin – leads the South Australian selections for the Academy Awards accredited St Kilda Film Festival.

The horror-comedy about a damsel in distress, who turns the tables on her would-be assailant, headlines the festival’s ‘Laugh Out Loud’ with its World Premiere screening at the St Kilda Town Hall on Friday May 22.

Before travelling to St Kilda, the filmmaking trio will be attending the South Australian Screen Awards (SASAs) at the Mercury Cinema on Friday 15 May. TOO DARK leads the SASAs race with 8 nominations, including: Best Short – Michael Clarkin and Sean Lahiff; Best Comedy – Michael Clarkin and Sean Lahiff; Best Director – Sean Lahiff; Best Writer – David Haddin and Best Performance for rising star Sarah Jeavons.

Producer Michael Clarkin explains, “Our aim with Too Dark was to frighten our audience before making them laugh. Ian Henschke (ABC 891 Adelaide) told us that Too Dark made him jump out of his seat, so with St Kilda selection and the SASA nominations, we feel we’ve achieved our goal.”  

An accomplished film and Visual Effects Editor, Too Dark director Sean Lahiff is currently editing the Paul Currie feature ‘2:22’ (starring Teresa Palmer) in Sydney. Sean is thrilled with the festival selection. He explains, “St Kilda presents a strong program of the best Australian short films and we’re really stoked that Too Dark is connecting with audiences and festival programmers alike.”

While Too Dark was filmed on location in the Adelaide Hills, the film’s post-production included work in the USA, Germany and France as the film’s score was produced by jet-setting legendary American indie musician Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, R.E.M., Big Star, Death Cab For Cutie) while Ken was on tour. Michael elaborates, “I was in Adelaide, Sean was on a job in Melbourne and Ken was all over the globe so I was using international meeting planner apps to schedule times for the three of us to be Skype across the time zones.”

The other South Australian selections are Matthew Salleh’s Central Texas Barbecue; Ryder Grindle’s Criticism; Paul Gallasch’s Fecal Matters; Jack Sheridan’s Injury Time and Tamryn Morris’ Servo.

Screenwriter Dave Haddin is keen to make the most of the St Kilda Film Festival and support his fellow South Australian filmmakers. Dave offers, “There’s a real sense of camaraderie in Adelaide so I’ll be seeing as many of the South Australian films as possible to show my colleagues support.”

Other festival highlights include director Matt Holcomb’s Flat Daddy starring Kat Stewart and Kenny director Clayton Jacobson’s Melma.

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