Adelaide director Rosemary Myers’ debut feature film Girl Asleep has won prize position at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale), being selected to open the youth program of the festival’s 66th year in February.
An international first for the film, this follows its world premiere at the 2015 Adelaide Film Festival in October, where it won the 2015 Foxtel Movies Audience Awards for Most Popular Feature, and critical acclaim.
One of the world’s “big three” film festivals alongside Venice and Cannes, the Berlinale runs from 11-21 February and is considered the largest publicly attended film festival worldwide, with around 500,000 admissions each year.
Girl Asleep will open the Generation 14 Plus section of the festival, part of the program dedicated to children and young people that attracts more than 65,000 filmgoers. The Generation films selected in 2016 feature young individuals whose inner lives are in turmoil, and include entries from India, Chile, New Zealand, Russia and China.
Windmill Theatre Artistic Director and Girl Asleep Director Rosemary Myers said: “We are incredibly thrilled and excited to be invited to open the Berlinale Generation 14 Plus program with our film Girl Asleep. The film was made in Adelaide with great imagination from our artists, as well as the belief from our supporters that a partnership between the worlds of theatre and film could come together to produce something unique.”
Set in the 1970s and boasting an array of captivating performances from its talented Australian cast, including Bethany Whitmore (Mental, Mary and Max), Harrison Feldman (Upper Middle Bogan), Matthew Whittet (The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge), Eamon Farren (Love is Now, Red Dog) and Tilda Cobham- Hervey (52 Tuesdays), Girl Asleep is a journey into the absurd, scary and beautiful heart of the teenage mind.
Written by Matthew Whittet, the screenplay is based on the critically acclaimed theatrical work that premiered as part of Windmill Theatre’s trilogy for teenage audiences at the 2014 Adelaide Festival of Arts.
The film explores the life of Greta Driscoll who, on the cusp of turning fifteen, can’t bear to leave her childhood as it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world. She floats in a bubble of loserdom with her only friend Elliott, until her parents throw her a surprise 15th birthday party and she’s flung into a parallel place; a world that’s weirdly erotic, a little bit violent and thoroughly ludicrous – only there can she find herself.
“Audiences loved the film in Adelaide, and we’re looking forward to presenting it to global audiences in advance of its Australian release later this year,” said Producer Jo Dyer.
Girl Asleep will be released theatrically in Australia in July 2016 by Umbrella Entertainment and KOJO, and will also screen on ABC television.
- Girl Asleep official film website
- Berlinale website
- Read our review of the Girl Asleep film
- Read our review of the Girl Asleep stage play
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