''Christmess'' is a 2023 Australian Christmas film written and directed by

Heath Davis Heath Te-Ihi-O-Te-Rangi Davis (born 30 November 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer. He played five Test matches and eleven One Day Internationals in the 1990s. He played his provincial cricket for Wellington. Early and personal life Dav ...

. It stars Hannah Joy,

Steve Le Marquand Steve Le Marquand (born 26 December 1967) is an Australian-born actor, known both locally and internationally for his film and stage work. Personal life Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1967, his family moved to Sydney when he was quite ...

, and

Darren Gilshenan Darren Gilshenan is an Australian actor and writer. He is best known for his roles in television series ''The Moodys'', '' Maximum Choppage'', ''Chandon Pictures'' and '' Full Frontal''. Early life Growing up in Brisbane, Darren was first intr ...

Premise

Three recovering addicts try to get through the festive season without relapsing, in Campbelltown, a suburb in

western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

, Australia.

Cast

* Hannah Joy as Joy *

as Chris Flint *

as Nick * Aaron Glenane as Jeff * Nicole Pastor as Noelle * George Burgess as a Doorman/bouncer

Production

An independent Australian film, ''Christmess'' is written and directed by Heath Davis. Davis began writing an “authentic” Christmas film after Christmas 2020 when he spent time in isolation during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

without work or family, and watched a lot of “bad Christmas films”. It is produced by Daniel Fenech, Cindy Pritchard, and Matthew McCracken. Funding for the film partially came from crowd-funding.

Casting

The film marks the feature film acting debut of Hannah Joy, the lead singer with rock band

Middle Kids Middle Kids are an Australian alternative indie rock band from Sydney. The group consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Hannah Joy, bass guitarist Tim Fitz, and drummer Harry Day. Since forming in 2016, the band has released their eponymous d ...

. Joy wrote several original songs for Christmess, including ''Empty Chair'', ''Deadbeat Dads'', and ''Boxing Day'' and performs all three songs in character during the film.

Filming

Principal photography got underway in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in June 2022 with a three-week filming schedule.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the c ...

on 29 October 2023. It was released in Australia on 30 November 2023.

Reception

Nadine Whitney in '' The Curb'' described the film as "painful, hopeful, gentle, and funny as hell". Luke Buckmaster in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described it as "a very absorbing film, tenderly written and directed".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christmess 2023 films 2020s English-language films 2020s Australian films Films shot in Sydney Australian Christmas films 2020s Christmas films English-language Christmas films