The Mill and the Cross

The rich and fertile imagination of Polish artist and filmmaker Lech Majewski (Glass Lips, SFF 2008) finds its perfect subject in Flemish master Pieter Bruegel's 1564 painting The Procession to Calvary. Using a combination of green-screen techniques, location shooting, and a vast matte backdrop painted by Majewski himself, this may be the closest a feature film has ever come to being a painting. The effect is just as awe-inspiring as the original work which depicts the crucifixion of Christ transposed into the artist's own era, a time when Flemish territory was occupied by Spanish mercenaries. Majewski restages the painting, magnifying each cluster of characters and elaborating on their stories (Charlotte Rampling plays the painting's lamenting Mary). An analysis of the work (based on the book by Michael Francis Gibson, who also wrote the screenplay) is delivered by Bruegel (Rutger Hauer) in conversations with a banker and collector (Michael York). 

Australian Premiere