''A Sunburnt Christmas'' is a 2020 Australian Christmas film, made as a Stan original. Directed by

Christiaan Van Vuuren Christiaan Van Vuuren (born 1982), known as The Fully Sick Rapper in his first video series, is an actor, writer, director and video blogging, video blogger from Sydney, Australia. He often collaborates with his brother, Connor Van Vuuren, and t ...

on his feature-length debut, from a script by Elliot Vella, Gretel Vella, and Timothy Walker, the film stars

Daniel Henshall Daniel Edwin Henshall (born 9 August 1982) is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in ''Snowtown'' (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as '' The Babadook'' (2014), ...

Sullivan Stapleton Sullivan Stapleton (born 14 June 1977) is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series ''The Secret Life of Us'', '' Strike Back'' and '' Animal Kingdom''. He also starred in the NBC crime drama '' Blindspot''. S ...

, and Tatiana Goode.

Synopsis

A struggling

Australian outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass ...

farm gets gatecrashed by an on-the-run criminal Daryl, dressed as

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

. On the run from a

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

, and mistaken for the real Santa by the youngest child of the single parent family, Daisy, her wily teenage sister Hazel sees Daryl as an opportunity to get her family back on track.

Cast

as Daryl Dunn *

as Dingo * Tatiana Goode as Hazel *

Ling Cooper Tang Ling Cooper Tang, formerly credited as Ling-Hsueh Tang, is a Chinese Australian actress. She became known for her role as Dr. Kylie Preece in the hospital drama TV series ''All Saints'' (1999-2002), and has starred in many TV series since, in ...

as Fiona Raley * Lena Nankivell as Daisy *

Matt Vesely Matthew Vesely is an Australian filmmaker, best known for his 2022 feature film ''Monolith''. His other work includes the web series ''Wastelander Panda'' (2013) and the short films ''My Best Friend Is Stuck on the Ceiling'' (2015) and ''System ...

as Clyde Dandy * Eadan McGuiness as Tom * Alirio Zavarce * Ewine McMorrine

Production

The film is produced by Every Cloud Productions and Highview Productions.

Lisa Scott South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are manage ...

of Highview Productions is producer, with executive producers Fiona Eagger and Deb Cox for Every Cloud, and Mike Jones co-producing. Financing also came from

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

, in association with Stan, with finance also from the

South Australian Film Corporation South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is a South Australian Government statutory corporation established in 1972 to engage in film production and promote the film industry, located in Adelaide, South Australia. The Adelaide Studios are managed ...

. Filming took place in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and

Callington Callington () is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had increased to 5,78 ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, in 2020. For Van Vuuren the film was his feature-length directorial debut. It was completed in under 20 weeks from start to finish during strict

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 ...

protocols, with principal photography cut from four weeks to three weeks as a result. The idea was pitched in May 2020 and by August pre-production had started with Van Vuuren and writers Elliott and Gretel Vella and Timothy Walker working quickly to allow a September shoot before editing and post-production could be completed in October and November before a Christmas release.

Release

''A Sunburnt Christmas'' was available to stream in Australia on Stan from Friday, 11 December 2020.

Reception

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 "wacky and sweet" film that "builds from the outset a jive and momentum, setting a tone and visual flavour that reflects the playfulness of the script". Praise came for the cinematography of

Dylan River Dylan River (born ), also credited as Dylan River Glynn McDonald, is an Australian film director, writer, and cinematographer. He co-wrote and directed the series ''Robbie Hood'' in 2019, and is known for his as cinematographer on the 2020 se ...

, who "shoots with a rich but playful look", and the camera work of director Van Vuuren, who "brings the camera in on the joke. It doesn’t just capture the mise-en-scène; it explores the space for comedic potential". Writing in '' The Curb'', Andrew F. Pierce described the film thus: "''A Sunburnt Christmas'' instantly becomes an Aussie Christmas classic, sure to find itself on high rotation each festive season", due to how Van Vuuren navigates the comedy and heart perfectly, balancing a tightrope of tones", and "absolutely stellar, tight script". ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' cautions that it is a little too dark and violent to become "a fair dinkum family Christmas classic", but that it has "a heart the size of the Outback" and is "loads of fun, and brim-full of charm − thanks in large part to a delightful dirtbag-Santa performance from Daniel Henshall".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunburnt Christmas, A 2020 films 2020s English-language films 2020s Australian films Films shot in Adelaide Films shot in South Australia Australian Christmas films 2020s Christmas films English-language Christmas films