Simon Portus

Adrift

© Simon Portus :: Screenwriter, Director
  

Adrift tells the stories of Albert and Jess, two people connected by a tragic event.

About Adrift

Adrift was funded by the New South Wales Film and Television Office in 2004. The film was shot on 16mm on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales in March 2005. It had its world premiere at the 2006 Sydney Film Festival as part of the prestigious Dendy Awards.


Festivals

  • Sydney Film Festival, Dendy Awards, June 2006
  • Pacific Meridian Film Festival, Vladivostok, Russia, August 2006
  • Big Screen Australian Film Festival, playing with Ten Canoes, August 2006
  • Travelling Sydney Film Festival playing with Solo, August 2006
  • Flickerfest International Film Festival, Sydney January 2007
  • Byron Bay Film Festival, February 2007
  • Young at Heart Film Festival, Sydney March 2007
  • Snowyfest, Thredbo, June 2007
  • Falls Creek Film Festival, June 2007
  • In The Bin touring Film Festival, Oct 2007
  • Homebrewed Film Festival, Oct 2007


Awards

  • Best Short Film–Audience Award, Young at Heart Film Festival Sydney, 2007
  • Best Male Lead – In the Bin touring film festival, 2007


Television Sales

  • ABC (Australia)
  • ABC2 digital (Australia)


Worldwide Distribution

  • Quat Media, Toronto, Canada.

Director’s Statement

Adrift tells two separate stories connected by a common event. It’s about two people passing through thresholds in their lives.

Albert is a lonely man. His unhappiness is manifested in his immediate environment. His house is cluttered and unloved. For Albert unhappiness is just something he has to deal with. It’s his reality. Albert’s journey through the film doesn’t necessarily solve the issue of his loneliness, but the sequence of events that occur throughout Adrift propel him over his threshold and after this point we get a definite sense of hope for his future.

Jess is escaping from a painful situation. We get the feeling she has had a hard life. Her journey is both physical and emotional and takes her back to her mother.

In directing Adrift my main aim was to use the connection between Albert and Jess to create a sense of universality about these characters. Albert could possibly have had a daughter like Jess and Jess could have had a father like Albert. I hoped the audience would make these inferred connections and add depth to the story without having the need to actually relate Albert and Jess to one another.

Cast & Crew

Year of Production 2005
Shooting format 16mm
Length 15 minutes 50 seconds
Production Company Swing Wing International

  • Writer/director - Simon Portus
  • Producer/ Editor - David Curzon
  • Camera - Tim Alewood
  • Art Direction - Jeonga Choi
  • Sound design - Emma Hoy
  • Sound Recordist/Music - Hamish Adam

Cast

  • Chris Haywood
  • Helen O’leary
  • Paul Kelman

Sales contact:

David Curzon Ph: 0404 844313 email: david@swingwing.net

 

 



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