Toomelah
The film is set entirely in the remote Indigenous community of Toomelah, located on the NSW, QLD border. It was created as a mission during the 1930s, bringing together Gamilaroi and Bigambal people from the surrounding area.
The story centres on Daniel, a small ten year old boy who dreams of being a gangster. He is kicked out of school and befriends a local gang leader, until a rival gangster arrives back from jail to reclaim his turf. A showdown ensues and Daniel is caught in the middle, leaving him with a choice to make about his uncertain future.
Toomelah is a deeply personal story, that intimately depicts mission life in contemporary Australia. The film reveals the challenges facing the young Gamilaroi people of the Toomelah Community. Robbed of much of their traditional culture by Government policy, it is a community on a cultural edge, struggling for an identity. It is a provocative and yet comic story that transports audiences inside the community, creating an authentic world and way of life that is "Toomelah"
Official selection – Un Certain Regard 64th Cannes Film Festival
Official selection – In Competition 2011 Sydney Film Festival
Best Actor Nomination – Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2011 (Daniel Connors)
A film by Ivan Sen
CURIOUS FILM ANNOUNCES NOVEMBER 24 RELEASE DATE
Curious Film is proud to announce that TOOMELAH will be launched in cinemas nationally on November 24.
Ivan Sen (Beneath Clouds) has crafted a deeply personal story, which intimately depicts mission life in contemporary Australia. In the remote Indigenous community of Toomelah, ten year old Daniel dreams of being a gangster. When he is kicked out of school he befriends a local gang leader, until a rival gangster arrives back from jail to reclaim his turf. A showdown ensues and Daniel is caught in the middle, leaving him with a choice to make about his uncertain future.
The film reveals the challenges facing the young Gamilaroi people of the Toomelah Community. Robbed of much of their traditional culture by Government policy, it is a community on a cultural edge, struggling for an identity. It is a provocative and yet comic story that transports audiences inside the community, creating an authentic world and way of life that is "Toomelah".
The film is set entirely in the remote Indigenous community of Toomelah, located on the NSW, QLD border. It was created as a mission during the 1930s, bringing together Gamilaroi and Bigambal people from the surrounding area.
Cinemas where Toomelah will screen include:
The Chauvel, Sydney
The Classic, Melbourne
Cinema Nova, Melbourne
PalaceLuna Eastend, Adelaide
Luna Leederville, Perth
| PDF Downloads | |
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| Nov 2011 | May 2011 |
Ivan Sen was raised in Inverell, New South Wales, Australia. He graduated from Inverell High School in 1989 and then undertook a degree in photography at Griffith University in Queensland. He studied filmmaking at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, where he completed a Bachelor Arts in Directing in 1997.
Throughout the late 1990s Sen worked on numerous short films, before making his feature film debut with Beneath Clouds in 2002. The film follows two teenagers, Lena (Dannielle Hall) and Vaughn (Damian Pitt) who hitchhike together to Sydney, each for their own reasons. It won Sen global acclaim, screening at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and winning the Premiere First Movie Award at the 2002 Berlin Film Festival and the 2002 Best Director Award at the Australian Film Institute Awards. Sen has subsquently written and produced a number of award winning documentaries. His documentary Yellow Fella screened in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005.
Toomelah is selected for the Cannes International Film Festival 2011 - Un Certain Regard.
| Feature Drama | |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Toomelah - BUNYA Productions, Sydney. |
| 2002 | Beneath Clouds - Australian Film Finance Corporation, Axiom Films, SBS Independent, Dendy Films, NSW FTO. |
| Short Drama | |
| 1999 | Dust - SBS Independent, NSW FTO. |
| 1998 | Wind - AFC, SBS Independent, ABC TV, NSW FTO. |
| 1997 | Journey - ABC, Festival of the Dreaming. |
| 1996 | Tears - AFC, SBS Independent, NSW FTO. |
| 1995 | Warm Strangers - AFTRS, ABC |
| Television Documentaries | |
| 2008 | Fire Talker The life and times of Charles Perkins - ABC. |
| 2007 | Embassy Days - ABC. |
| 2006 | A Sister's Love - ABC. |
| 2006 | Broken Borders - ABC. |
| 2006 | Aunty Connie - ABC. |
| 2005 | Shifting Shelter 3 - ABC. |
| 2005 | Yellow Fella - SBS. |
| 2003 | Who was Evelyn Orcher? - ABC. |
| 2002 | The Dreamers - ABC. |
| 2000 | Shifting Shelter 2 - ABC. |
| 1998 | Vanish - ABC |
| 1995 | Shifting Shelter 1 - ABC. |
| July 2011 | Melbourne International Film Festival (Aus) |
| Sept 2011 | VIFF 'Pacific Meridian' – Vladivostok (Rus) 'Pacific Meridian' Grand Prix for Best Feature Film |
| Oct 2011 | Festival des Antipodes – Saint Tropez (Fr) 'Special Mention' for performance of Daniel Connors |
| Oct 2011 | Rio International Film Festival (Bra) |
| Nov 2011 | Leeds International Film Festival (UK) |
| Nov 2011 | Gijon International Film Festival (Sp) |
| Nov 2011 | Asia Pacific Screen Awards Daniel Connors – Nomination 'Best Performance by an Actor' |
| Nov–Dec 2011 | International Film Festival of India – Goa (India) |
| 'Spellbound Cannes delights from a love letter from Australian heartland' - SMH | |
|---|---|
| The result certainly touched the audiences here on the other side of the world. At the press screening, the audience was held in spellbound silence; at the official screening, the film had a standing ovation. read more | |
| 'Toomelah' - FILMINK | |
| With director Ivan Sen deftly finding the poetry and humour in this harsh setting, and driven by newcomer Daniel Connors' riveting performance, this is affecting stuff.read more | |
| 'Small town ragamuffins now feted by the world' (+ video) - THE AGE | |
| ...more than 200 people were gathered in grandstands, cars and chairs from the local hall. They laughed uproariously every time someone from the community appeared on the screen and, as the credits rolled, beeped car horns and clapped as though the Tigers had won the grand final. read more | |
| 'real life on the edge' - REALTIMEARTS.NET | |
| Ivan Sen has remarked that the film should 'not be seen as political finger pointing', and indeed it stands on its artistic merits. read more | |
| 'Daniel's time to shine' - SYDNEY MORNING HERALD | |
| Daniel Connors was a knockabout boy living in an Aboriginal settlement in far northern NSW - population 300 - when he was cast in the low-budget film Toomelah... read more | |
