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Boxing Day screens for US directors’ guild

By Simon de Bruyn

Despite not getting much of a theatrical run on Australian screens, Kriv Stenders’ raw domestic drama Boxing Day is currently screening in the United States as part of the Director’s Finder Series for Directors Guild of America members.
 
This is the first time an Australian film has participated in the Director’s Finder Series, which the International Affiliation of English Speaking Directors’ Organizations has been running for the last four years. The film was presented by the DGA in conjunction with the Australian Directors’ Guild.

Boxing Day
is a psychological thriller told in real time and appears to be one continuous shot, but is in fact 12 separate scenes stitched together so they appear seamless. The film explores the nature of families and the indisputable bonds that keep them together, no matter how dysfunctional they might be.
Stenders said he was looking forward to the opportunity to use the screenings and feedback to professionally evolve as a director.
“To show your film to your peers at the Directors Guild of America is a pretty extraordinary privilege and opportunity for any filmmaker. I am very excited to be coming over and to show the film to American filmmakers and to get their feedback,” he said.

Boxing Day
screened in Los Angeles  at the DGA Theatre Complex last week, in a session chaired by Australian director Phillip Noyce, and screens this Friday 6 June at the New York Directors Guild Theatre.
The ADG has also announced that they are now welcoming entries for the 2008 ADG Directors Awards, which is when Stenders won the opportunity to screen in front of US distributors and peers, at the inaugural ceremony last year. The Awards night will be held on Saturday 27th September as part of the annual ADG Conference 25th-28th September 2008.
 
Siren Visual will release an uber-special edition of Boxing Day on DVD on August 21, featuring commentaries, making of documentary and a complete alternate take of the film.