''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 Tests and eleven One Day Internationals in the 1990s. He played his provincial cricket for Wellington. Early and personal life Davis was ...

Premise

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

Cast

Hannah Joy Middle Kids are an alternative rock, alternative indie rock band from Sydney, Australia. The band consists of Hannah Joy (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Fitz (bass, backing vocals, production) and Harry Day (drums, backing vocals). Since formi ...

as Joy * Steve Le Marquand as Chris Flint *

Darren Gilshenan Darren Gilshenan is an Australian actor and writer. He is best known for his in television series ''The Moodys'', ''Maximum Choppage'', ''Chandon Pictures'' and '' Full Frontal''. Early life Darren was first introduced to acting while he was a ...

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 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 alternative indie rock band from Sydney, Australia. The band consists of Hannah Joy (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Tim Fitz (bass, backing vocals, production) and Harry Day (drums, backing vocals). Since forming in 2016, the b ...

. 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 state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

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 ...

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

Other films by Heath Davis

Heath Davis directed '' Book Week '', released in 2018. This film was nominated for the

AACTA Award for Best Indie Film The AACTA Award for Best Indie Film is an award presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) since 2018. The award is presented at the annual AACTA Awards, which hand out accolades for achievements in feature film, ...

in the

9th AACTA Awards The 9th Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (generally known as the AACTA Awards) is an award's ceremony to celebrate the best of Australian films and television of 2019. The main ceremony was held at The Star (Sydney), The St ...

in 2019.

References

External links

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