This is the final News in Brief column for 2020, and what a relief it is to reach this point and say that our cinemas across the nation are well and truly open for the summer season. Now is the time to support your local physical cinema if you want it to keep existing. Australian films on offer now in selected cinemas include Rams, Brazen Hussies and Babyteeth. But also look out for:
The Furnace: Out now, the debut feature from WA writer-director Roderick MacKay, premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Set during WA’s 1890s gold rush and filmed in the ruggedly beautiful country around Mount Magnet in the Mid West, the story is an unlikely hero’s tale about a young Afghan cameleer (rising Egyptian star Ahmed Malek) who falls in with a mysterious bushman (David Wenham) on the run with two stolen Crown gold bars. Pursued by a zealous police sergeant and his troopers, they must race to a secret furnace where they can reset the bars to remove the mark of the Crown.
