THE NIGHTINGALE, which enjoyed its world premiere on September 6 in Venice, was the only female-directed film to screen in competition at the festival. On receiving the Special Jury Prize over the weekend, Kent said “To all those women out there wanting to make films, please go and do it, we need you.”

THE NIGHTINGALE is Ganambarr’s first performance onscreen, where he stars in a lead role as Billy. He is a passionate dancer and actor, and performs with the internationally acclaimed Djuki Mala dance group.

Set in 1825, Clare, a young Irish convict woman, chases a British officer through the rugged Tasmanian wilderness, bent on revenge for a terrible act of violence he committed against her family. On the way she enlists the services of an Aboriginal tracker named Billy, who is also marked by trauma from his own violence-filled past. THE NIGHTINGALE stars Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones) and Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) alongside Australia’s Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman (Justified, Breaking Bad), Harry Greenwood (Hacksaw Ridge) and Ewen Leslie (Sweet Country).

This is the second year in a row an Australian film has been awarded the Special Jury Prize at the festival, with Warwick Thornton’s SWEET COUNTRY taking home the coveted prize in 2017. The film went on to make over $2 million dollars at the Australian box office.

“The Nightingale is a powerful and important story, one that we feel privileged to be working on. For the filmmaking team and newcomer Baykali Ganambarr to receive this recognition on the international stage is wonderful,” said Transmission Films Joint Managing Directors Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten.

THE NIGHTINGALE premieres in Australia on 13th October at the Adelaide Film Festival, with tickets now on sale. THE NIGHTINGALE will release nationally in Australia in 2019.
www.facebook.com/transmissionfilms

For years they were hidden in the musical wilderness, feeding off the steady props that continued to trickle through on the back of their stone-cold classic debut record Since I Left You, released all the way back in 2001. Tunes like Frontier Psychiatrist and the hypnotic title track marked this Melbourne-based collective as one of the most influential outfits in the history of Australian music as their patchwork, sample-friendly rave ups wove themselves into the fabric of our collective musical identity.

From that point, year after silent year would go by until suddenly, in May 2016, word came through of a “hotline” which could be called with new Avalanches tunes waiting on the other side. As hype rolled on it was eventually confirmed that Wildflower was coming and that after 16 long years, we’d finally have new music.

What we didn’t see coming was the revelation that, now shorn of all members but two (Robbie Chater and Tony Di Blasi), these boys would somehow pull of a Benjamin Button-esque miracle in which their skills and relevance had completely failed to age. Wildflower was brilliant and The Avalanches now possess a stage show befitting of a band with a momentous catalogue, not just one wondrous record.

The Avalanches 2018 Australian Tour
10 February – Party In The Paddock – White Hills, Tasmania
24 February – Sydney City Limits – Centennial Park, Sydney
25 February – Perth International Arts Festival, Perth
7 March – The Tivoli – Brisbane
10 March – Golden Plains – Meredith, Victoria
11 March – Womadelaide – Adelaide
www.theavalanches.com