Australian film Snatchers has been officially selected to have its world premiere at the 33rd Raindance Film Festival in London in June.
The independently produced feature, shot entirely in Canberra with a predominantly local crew, will screen on 21 June at Vue Piccadilly as part of the UK’s largest festival dedicated to independent cinema.
Written and co-directed by Craig Alexander, who also stars in the film, Snatchers follows two lifelong friends and hospital orderlies who attempt to profit from the illegal organ trade – until their plan is derailed by the sudden reanimation of a corpse.
The 82-minute film balances genre elements with black comedy and social commentary, taking aim at inequality and exploitation within late-stage capitalism.
‘It’s been a long journey and a lot of blind faith to get through to this point when pretty much everything says it’s not going to happen,’ said Alexander. ‘You really just have to see it through and hope for the best – this is a validation of that journey.’
The film is the debut feature from Canberra-based production company The Horse and features a cast including Hannah McKenzie (Love Forever), Craig Alexander (Total Control, The Code) and Justin Hosking (Crime & Punishment, The Broken Shore).
‘To get our first feature internationally recognised, and premiering in London at Raindance – a festival known to promote innovation and bold storytelling – is both rewarding and incredibly encouraging,’ said producer and co-director Shelly Higgs.
‘It takes a huge amount of work to get a feature film off the ground, and the fact that a feature completely produced in Canberra, ACT, with a 90% local cast and crew (with more than 50% of those made up of women, I might add!) is a great achievement and testament to the hard work of the whole team and the people who supported us.’
ScreenHub: New Wake in Fright development initiative has $30k ready for new horror scripts
Drawing inspiration from well-known directors, Alexander said the spirit of low-budget filmmaking was central to the project.
‘I’m inspired by Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright and Robert Rodriguez, and Rodriguez’s book Rebel Without a Crew was probably instrumental in me getting this made,’ he said. ‘There’s a time where you’ve been at this game for 20 years just scraping by – you get to a point where you say: screw it, I want to make the sort of movie that I want to watch. I think with Snatchers, we’ve done that.’
‘Horror comedy, especially that fine line between making someone laugh and making someone scared, is where I love playing around,’ he added. ‘This was the perfect vehicle for me to muck around in that space – a chamber piece, almost – where there is less budget required to deliver a compelling story.’
Distribution for Snatchers in Australia will be handled by Screen Inc, with a national release planned for Spring 2025.
Snatchers – Production Details & Technical Specifications
- Year: 2024
- Genre: Dark Comedy
- Runtime: 82 minutes
- Language: English
- Country: Australia
- Content Warning: Partial Nudity, Violence, Coarse Language
Crew
- Directors: Craig Alexander, Shelly Higgs
- Screenwriter: Craig Alexander
- Producers: Craig Alexander, Shelly Higgs, Sebastian Chan, Denai Gracie
- Executive Producers: Craig Alexander, Shelly Higgs, Alexandros Ouzas
- Cinematographer: Luke Patterson
- Editor: Craig Alexander
- Music: Jay Cameron
Cast
- Hannah McKenzie
- Craig Alexander
- Justin Hosking
