In Heaven They Sing Karaoke.

RELATED: Vulnerability, tragedy and a pandemic: The making of A Pencil to the Jugular

Australian New Wave screenings supported by Cinespace Inc. will showcase two feature-length films by Matthew Victor Pastor at the Thornbury Picture House over the coming weeks – In Heaven They Sing Karaoke will screen on November 15 and A Pencil to the Jugular will screen on November 22.

Pastor, a Melbourne-born Filipino/Australian filmmaker in his early 30’s was hailed by Inside Film magazine in 2018 as “one of Australia’s most prolific filmmakers” due to his prolific independent output after graduating from the VCA two years earlier — and he is also proven himself one of the most exciting, feature film talents to emerge in recent years.

Pastor delivers a fresh and original on-screen voice in his self-styled feature films, an “energetic and prolific filmmaker worth keeping tabs on” states film critic Adrian Martin. His work has screened internationally including at the São Paulo International Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival, Revelation Perth International Film Festival, Adelaide Film Festival, Los Angeles Asia-Pacific Film Festival, St Kilda Film Festival and Monster Fest, among many others.

Pastor has also been at the forefront of a new wave of exciting young Asian diaspora filmmakers, many of whom he has also inspired (Pastor is a producer on “Anak” by Caleb Ribates which recently had its world premiere at MIFF), and he has collaborated in his body of work with some of the country’s best Asian-Australian screen actors including Charlotte Nicdao (Apple TV’s Mythic Quest), Alf Nicdao (Bali 2002), Felino Dolloso (Amazon Prime’s Survive or Die) and Jillian Nguyen (Barons, Loveland).

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Certainly there is a sense that the work of Pastor and his ilk is galvanising a new diaspora audience. Giving voice to a new lens on Australia, as well as showcasing the Melbourne experience, is something that inspires Pastor’s work: “It’s about seeing those faces, it’s about seeing those stories. It has a lot of weight.”, said the filmmaker in a 2019 interview with The New York Times. (hyperlink this).

In the upcoming showcase, November 15 sees a preview (work-in-progress) screening of In Heaven They Sing Karaoke, a “piercing realist melodrama about Filipino migrants in Australia, spearheaded by a tour-de-force performance from Dolloso, whose stage play is the basis for this film”.

November 22 is the Melbourne premiere of the pandemic-made-feature, A Pencil to the Jugular, a “moody and hypnotic film from Pastor (and quite possibly his masterpiece), as we follow a myriad number of young adults in pandemic-lockdown Melbourne”. The film premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival in 2021, and this is its first local screening.

Australian New Wave screenings showcase the most original new voices in Australian cinema, are presented by Bill Mousoulis and Chris Luscri.

If you haven’t had an opportunity to see Matthew’s work before, then these two special screenings aren’t to be missed.

Event details and bookings here.