MIFF Ambassador screenings are personal journeys through cinema, by incredible artists, that only happen at MIFF. For one session only, acclaimed director and MIFF Ambassador Justin Kurzel (Nitram, MIFF 2021) presents a gem of Australian cinema, followed by an illuminating conversation with its director, Man Booker Prize–winning novelist Richard Flanagan.

Sonja left her father’s home in Hobart at an early age, following a drunken outburst. Upon her return 20 years later, little appears to have changed. Now pregnant, she is eager to understand the long-hidden secret of her family and heal some of her inherited pain. What Sonya discovers is a sad cycle of violence that has been perpetuated since the family’s emigration from Slovenia after WWII.

Produced by cinema icon Rolf de Heer, this visually stunning adaptation by author-turned-director Flanagan remains his only such work. One of two Australian features to play in competition at the 1998 Berlinale (the other was Rowan Woods’s The Boys), this tough but affectionate film has remained largely undiscovered in the years since its premiere. With Kerry Fox and Kristof Kaczmarek in lead roles plus a young Essie Davis, Flanagan’s tale of the migrant struggle was, in many ways, ahead of its time – and is undeniably ripe for rediscovery.

“Greatly assisted by cinematographer Martin McGrath’s starkly beautiful landscapes and Cezary Skubiszewski’s haunting East European-flavoured score … Starkly illustrates cultural and emotional shock experienced by many migrants in the ‘lucky country’.” – Australian Screen