Director Abe Forsythe has set his new comedy, Down Under, amid the dark days of the infamous race-based Cronulla riots of 2005.
The movie tells the story of two carloads of hotheads from both sides of the cultural divide, each of them spurred on by an intoxicating mix of machismo, mob hysteria and misguided rage. In the movie's press notes, their journey is described as follows: "Sincere, though misguided, intent gives way to farcical ineptitude as this hilarious yet poignant story of ignorance, fear and kebab-cravings unfolds, and what was meant to be a retaliation mission turns into something neither side could have imagined".
Writer director Forsythe says: “There is nothing more satisfying than getting people to laugh at something they feel like they shouldn’t be laughing at. Comedy is the best way to say something meaningful.”
“Obviously if you’re setting a film during the Cronulla riot, racism is one of the major themes you find yourself exploring. However, racism here is a behavioural by-product of these characters wanting to belong to something, to feel like they are in control.”
Down Under will be released in cinemas in 2016.
