Carnifex.

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The Adelaide Film Festival has revealed a sneak peak at its 2022 program which includes two new Australian films, Carnifex and The Last Daughter.

Carnifex, the directorial debut of acclaimed South Australian film editor Sean Lahiff, received production investment from the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund. Carnifex is an environmental horror/thriller with a cast that features Alexandra Park (Ben is Back/The Royals), Sisi Stringer (Children of the Corn/Mortal Kombat) and Harry Greenwood (Hacksaw Ridge/Wakefield). Producers are Helen Leake and Gena Ashwell.

Lahiff’s short film Smashed, produced by Gena Ashwell, premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 before going on to play at numerous festivals worldwide, winning multiple awards and audience acclaim.  As Australia recovers from unprecedented bushfires, Carnifex follows Bailey (Alexandra Park), an aspiring documentary maker, who joins conservationists Grace (Sisi Stringer) and Ben (Harry Greenwood), as they travel deep into the Australian outback to track and record the animals left displaced and devasted by the fires. As night falls, the well-equipped trio discover a terrifying species, but quickly become the ones being tracked.

The Last Daughter.

In The Last Daughter, also an Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund film, Brenda Matthews, who directs with Nathaniel Schmidt, is on a mission to unearth the truth about her past, and to reconcile the two sides of her family. Brenda’s first memories were of growing up in a loving white foster family, before she was suddenly taken away and returned to her Aboriginal family.  Decades later, she feels disconnected from both halves of her life. But the traumas of her past do not lie quietly buried. So, she goes searching for the foster family with whom she had lost all contact.  Along the way she uncovers long-buried secrets, government lies, and the possibility for deeper connections to family and culture. Larissa Behrendt mentored both directors. Producers are Simon Williams and Brendon Skinner.

The full Adelaide Film Festival program will be revealed on September 12. For more details visit adelaidefilmfestival.org