ScreenHub regular and acclaimed film critic Stephen A Russell has won an Australian Film Critics Association (AFCA) Award for the third consecutive year, for his review of Charles Williams’ striking feature debut Inside.
Inside, starring Guy Pearce, Cosmo Jarvis and Vincent Miller, showed as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival last year, and was lauded by Russell for ‘dealing in uncomfortable truths about violence that makes room enough for hope without that feeling like a cop-out’.
Russell writes regularly for ScreenHub and other publications on Australian and international films, as well as reporting from international film festivals such as Germany’s Berlinale, and interviewing actors and filmmakers.
In the 2023 Awards, Russell won Best Review of an Individual Australian Film for his review of Ivan Sen’s mystery crime drama Limbo, published on Flicks, and Best Review of an Individual Non-Australian Film for his ScreenHub review of Andrew Haigh’s romantic fantasy All of Us Strangers, which he described as a ‘deeply confronting, cathartic film’ dealing with the aftermath of a parent’s death while still coming to terms with one’s own sexuality and place in the world.
‘It’s a tantalising thought, what we would say to a lost loved one if we could steal one more night, or maybe more,’ Russell wrote on All of Us Strangers. ‘One that’s sure to play heavy with tear-slicked pain on the mind of anyone in a similar situation.
‘But if Adam’s parents, seemingly aware of the strange fracture in time in which they pass their days, can catch up on all that has passed in his achingly empty decades without them, these conversations carry complexity. Mum worries he will “lead a lonely life,” and then, as Adam does, indeed, invite Harry upstairs and gradually into his life, that the adverts she recalls as heavy as tombstones will place her son at risk with his “special friend”.’
Read: Stephen A Russell interviews Ivan Sen for ScreenHub
In the 2022 Awards, Russell won the Best Review of an Individual Australian Film for his review of the Australian-Slovenian drama Moja Vesna by director Sara Kern, published in Time Out.
AFCA is one of Australia’s professional associations for film critics, film reviewers and film journalists who work regularly in the media, and provide informed discussion, analysis, and comment about Australian and world cinema.
The association aims to support mainstream, independent and Australian cinema, and seeks to foster an appreciation of significant or challenging films that may have been neglected.
Along with the Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA), AFCA is an affiliated national section member of FIPRESCI, the International Association of Film Critics and Journalists.
Russell, a self-described ‘Scotstralian’, who emigrated from Scotland to Australia in the mid-noughties, praised AFCA while championing Australian film.
‘As I said in my speech on Saturday night at the gorgeous Backlot Studios in South Melbourne, as the wolves of AI and ever-decreasing editorial budgets beat at our collective door, AFCA championing the work of Australian critics is more important now than ever before. I thank them for their tireless efforts.
‘I may have been born half the world away, but I’m passionate about Australian cinema and have dedicated nearly 20 years to covering it in all its oft-underappreciated glory. So to be judged worthy by my peers and win Best Review of an Australian Film for the third year running – for my ScreenHub take on Charles Williams’ sublime Inside – is a genuine honour.
‘It’s one I share with Charles and every filmmaker out there fighting Herculean battles to tell our stories. It’s damn hard to get a film up, even harder down here and especially for indie films, so I salute them, one and all.
‘Here’s to my fellow winners and those who came so close, and the eternal glory of the silver screen – a heartfelt thank you to ScreenHub for always championing me, too.’
Inside is currently screening at select Australian cinemas.
