PRESS RELEASE
The 26th annual Revelation Perth International Film Festival returns to Luna Cinemas Leederville from 12 – 16 July, 2023.
Since 1997, Rev has developed a reputation as Australia’s leading independent screen event continuously advocating for Australian screen culture and independent practice like no other.
The expertly curated Festival programme is a celebration of independent filmmakers who will challenge and entertain audiences of all ages with boundary pushing content you likely won’t see on a big screen anywhere else.
“We’re loving the ability to deliver a more compact and modular event – it’s of the time,” says Festival Director Richard Sowada.
“Compressing the event into five days with the same amount of films as before and following it on with four days of WA’s major VR, games and immersive technology event (XR:WA), builds a phenomenal critical mass across all screen-based media forms. It brings together these converging sectors, highlights new career opportunities and, unlike any film fest in the country, opens new ways of thinking about their relationships and what a screen-based festival can be,” Sowada concludes.
Festival organisers are pleased to reveal the first highlights for Rev ’23:
Opening the Festival is US crime drama DEVIL’S PEAK – from Perth director, and Revelation Perth International Film Festival Ambassador, Ben Young (Hounds of Love, Extinction). Starring Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, Hopper Penn and Emma Booth and set in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, the screen adaptation of David Joy’s novel titled Where All Light Tends To Go follows eighteen-year-old Jacob McNeely who is torn between his meth-dealing kingpin father and leaving the mountains forever with the girl he loves.
With all sound and post-production requirements for the feature handled by Western Australian providers, marking the first time the full scope of an international feature film of this scale was completed in the state, Rev is thrilled to present the Australian premiere of DEVIL’S PEAK on Wednesday 12 July.
Tickets for Opening Night are available online now at www.revelationfilmfest.org.
Rev presents the WA premiere of Canadian comedy drama I LIKE MOVIES; the debut feature from director Chandler Levack, this indie gem tugs at your heart strings and feels like a tribute to cinephiles around the globe. Set in the early 2000’s the film stars Isaiah Lehtinen as Lawrence Kweller, a socially inept movie-obsessed 17-year-old who gets a job in a video store where he forms a complicated relationship with his older female manager.
Rev then invites us to witness the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 – 2021 with HELLO DANKNESS; the latest sample-based experimental film from New York based Australian siblings Dan and Dominique Angeloro, the artist duo also known as Soda Jerk. A political fable disguised as a stoner musical comprised entirely of hundreds of pirated film samples, this is part political satire, part zombie stoner film and part Greek tragedy – a record of the time, written from the time.
Testament to the Rev’s longstanding reputation for showcasing cutting edge “must-see” documentaries that will challenge viewers is MANIFESTO; a found footage film comprised entirely of often-shocking videos uploaded by Russian teenagers to social media platforms. The presumably pseudonymous filmmaker Angie Vinchito has taken considerable risk with this dark, disturbing portrait of school life that shows how aggression and oppression are unwittingly passed on to the next generation.
Rev celebrates local filmmaking micro-budget triumphs with the World premiere screening of FRANK AND FRANK from Albany writer/director Adam Morris (Edward and Isabella); a bromance movie starring Myles Pollard and Trevor Jamieson filmed on location in Albany and Mt Barker, Western Australia.
We welcome the return of Rev’s INTERNATIONAL FAMILY ANIMATION EXPLOSION; a specially curated collection of family friendly international short animations from all corners of the globe that are perfect for all ages – including those who have never been to the movies before. And the best news is, tickets are free for kids up to 16 and just $10 for adults.
WESTRALIA DAY shines a glorious light on locally made films on Saturday 15 July at The Backlot. And the Festival closes with the annual celebration of WA’s talented emerging filmmakers at the popular GET YOUR SHORTS ON! and CITY OF VINCENT FILM PROJECT Special Event on Sunday 16 July.
The full programme for the Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2023 will be revealed early June.
Tickets for Opening Night and Get Your Shorts On! are on sale now.
Revelation is supported by the Australian and Western Australian governments through Screenwest, Lotterywest, Screen Australia and the City of Vincent.
