Slobodan Dane Andonoski, Karlo Bilić, Armin Džafić and Milijana Čančar in How Quickly Clouds Move. Photo by Zachary Texas.

How Quickly Clouds Move has been announced as one of two $5000 Queer Screen Completion Fund recipients.

Directed by Armin Džafić, Richard Jamze and Natalie Rose, How Quickly Clouds Move follows two estranged childhood friends who reunite during a chance drug deal. As the struggling dealer and an addicted realtor catch up, their night morphs into a confronting look at family, culture and sexuality.

“We’re so thankful to Queer Screen for giving independent queer films like ours a chance,” says co-director Armin Džafić.

“We’re also deeply honoured to join the lineup of amazing films that Queer Screen has supported over the years.”

Since 2016, the Queer Screen Completion Fund has aimed to provide Australian LGBTIQ+ filmmakers with financial support to complete production on narrative features and documentaries.

This year’s recipients were selected by a jury including Bobby Romia, producer and former Head of Development at Screen Australia; Kath Shelper, producer; and Greg Waters, screenwriter, producer and script editor.

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How Quickly Clouds Move co-director Natalie Rose acknowledges that this is an incredible act of love and support from Queer Screen to filmmakers.

“I hope to pay this generosity forward one day,” says Natalie.

“When I was a kid, I saw the Sydney Mardi Gras on TV and told my family that I wanted to go there one day. It brings a tear to my eye that I will finally be joining the community in such a beautiful celebration.”

Richard Jamze says that this recognition from Queer Screen represents a significant milestone in his career, as well as Natalie and Armin’s.

“As young queer filmmakers, the support of an organisation that provides so much good to the world, with a platform for traditionally marginalised voices to be seen and heard, means everything to us,” says Richard.

“We are honoured to be in the company of past winners and deeply encouraged by the support of this community with a personal and challenging story.”

Toby Morris was also a recipient of the fund for his film Cooee – a sci-fi coming-of-age story set twenty years in the future in small-town Australia, where there’s no work, no hope, but a whole lot of hopeless teenagers out to drive fast, hunt roos, get laid and escape into a virtual wonderland.

“We’ve all grown up watching images of a futuristic America in films like Blade Runner and Interstellar; Cooee responds, ‘meanwhile, in Jindabyne’. We cannot wait to share this wild, strange and unabashedly queer vision of Australia’s future with the world,” said Morris.

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