''The Wilding'' is a 2012 Australian

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written and directed by

Grant Scicluna Grant Scicluna (born in 1980) is an Australian film director and writer. best known for his work on ''The Wilding'' which won the Iris Prize in 2012, and the feature film Downriver. He is a graduate of RMIT, RMIT University School of Media and ...

and funded through Springboard, an initiative of

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 ...

. The film stars Reef Ireland, Shannon Glowacki, Luke Mullins and Frank Sweet and had its world premiere in competition at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

on 9 February 2012 and was nominated for the Teddy Award. The film competed at number of film festivals including

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. , the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

Show Me Shorts Show Me Shorts is an international short film festival held in Auckland and other venues across New Zealand. It screens a selection of short films from New Zealand and around the world in cinemas nationwide each spring. Each year approximately 8 ...

Melbourne Queer Film Festival The Melbourne Queer Film Festival (MQFF) is an annual LGBT film festival held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in November. Founded in 1991, it is the largest queer film event in the Southern Hemisphere, in 2015 attracting around 23,000 att ...

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 19 ...

and

St Kilda Film Festival St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. St Kilda recorded a population of 19,490 at the 2021 ...

and earned good reviews before winning the prestigious

Iris Prize The Iris Prize, established in by Berwyn Rowlands of The Festivals Company, is an international LGBTQ film prize and festival which is open to any film which is by, for, about or of interest to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex a ...

in 2012.

Premise

Malcolm, a hardened

borstal A borstal is a type of youth detention centre. Such a detention centre is more commonly known as a borstal school in India, where they remain in use today. Until the late 20th century, borstals were present in the United Kingdom, several mem ...

inmate, is in love with his cellmate Tye. As Malcolm faces an opportunity for parole, a feud with other inmates escalates, with Tye being targeted as Malcolm's weak spot. Malcolm is forced to choose between his own freedom and protecting the one he loves.

Cast

*Reef Ireland as Malcolm *Luke Mullins as Adam *Frank Sweet as Gavin *Shannon Glowacki as Tye *Richard Anastasios as Simmo *Lachlan Ward as Bosey

Reception

Critical response

The film received mainly positive reviews with Adrian Naik of ''big gay picture show'' praising Scicluna's direction and said "This is raw Australian filmmaking at its best. Combining the visceral brutality of Romper Stomper and the gritty terror of Chopper, The Wilding holds its own against films of this caliber, while still shocking those numb to their effects."

Accolades

Filming locations

The film was shot in Sunbury in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and its surrounding suburbs.

Feature film

In 2014

and

Film Victoria VicScreen, formerly known as Film Victoria, is the Victoria State Government's creative and economic screen development agency. It supports screen industry professionals, infrastructure, projects and events, promoting the state of Victoria as ...

announced investment in a feature film based on the short film, titled ''

Downriver Downriver is a region of the Detroit metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan covering 18 municipalities in Wayne County, south of Detroit, along the western shore of the Detroit River. Etymology The name derives from the fact that the ...

'' and will feature Ireland in the lead role.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilding 2012 films Australian drama short films Films set in Australia 2012 short films Australian LGBTQ-related short films Films shot in Australia Australian independent films 2012 LGBTQ-related films 2010s LGBTQ-related drama films 2010s English-language films Gay-related films 2010s Australian films English-language drama short films 2012 drama films