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Head South

Directed by Jonathan Ogilvie
2024
New Zealand
99 minutes
Unclassified 15+
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Set in the upstart postpunk scene of late ‘70s Christchurch – director Jonathan Ogilvie's hometown – this bittersweet semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale features a killer soundtrack and opened Rotterdam 2024.

Ed Oxenbould (The Visit) is wonderfully vulnerable as Angus, a middle-class schoolboy desperate to be one of the cool kids on the local music scene in thrall to the sounds of London bands like PiL and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Cutting off his long hair, finagling a bass, and scoring a gig before he even learns to play, Angus stumbles into a thrilling new world with sweet charm and mortifying awkwardness. Márton Csókás (Cuckoo, also screening at the Festival) is stellar as Angus's embittered but understanding dad who is suddenly too bourgeois and establishment for his newly class-conscious son. Filled with warmth and nostalgic detail, Ogilvie has crafted an achingly emotional tribute to an epochal moment in music.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.
A nostalgiafest romance from the 70s post-punk era about a kid in New Zealand mooching around in his uncool school uniform, hanging out in the local record shop (which still has its prog-era name of Middle Earth Records) and dreaming of starting a punk band called the Daleks – though wondering if just Daleks sounds cooler – and obsessing about an unattainably sexy girl who sneers at him
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Special Guest

Jonathan Ogilvie
Director
Jonathan Ogilvie is a filmmaker based in New Zealand. An AFTRS alumnus in 1990, Ogilvie’s shorts Despondent Divorcee (SFF 1995) and This Film Is a Dog were selected for Official Competition at Cannes. In 2021, Ogilvie adapted the Joseph Conrad novel The Secret Agent starring Hugo Weaving, which premiered at Rotterdam and later at Melbourne International Film Festival.

Tickets

Thu 6 Jun
8:20pm
Event Cinemas George Street - Cinema 9
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Past Event Cancel
Sun 9 Jun
4pm
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 1
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Close Captioned
Past Event Cancel
Presented By
Program Strand
Sounds On Screen
Year
2024
Classification
Unclassified 15+
Country
New Zealand
Language
In English
Director
Jonathan Ogilvie
Producer
Jonathan Ogilvie, Antje Kulpe
Cast
Ed Oxenbould, Márton Csókás, Stella Bennett
Screenwriter
Jonathan Ogilvie
Cinematographer
John Crisstoffels
Editor
Julie-Anne De Ruvo
Premiere
Australian Premiere
Genre
Comedies, Music
Production Company
Head South Cohort
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