Beneath Clouds

Ivan Sen’s debut feature continues the story of one of his acclaimed short films, ‘Tears’. Two disaffected teenagers, Vaughn and Lena (played by non-professional actors Damian Pitt and Dannielle Hall), meet on the road as they flee their troubled backgrounds and head to the city. Lena, a light-skinned Aboriginal who passes as white, is looking for the Irish father she only knows from photographs. Vaughn is on the run from a prison farm, going home to see his dying mother who long ago gave him up. He is angry and prone to violent outbursts, especially against white people. Though uncommunicative and wary of each other, the two develop an uneasy, tentative bond as their journey progresses and they encounter various Indigenous and European Australians. With extremely sparse dialogue and little character development, Sen uses visual language to convey the emotional isolation of the pair who are often framed in long shot against the open vistas of the Northern New South Wales rural landscape (shot around Moree), or in extreme close-ups. The chasm between black and white Australia and a continuing history of brutality against Indigenous Australians are underlying themes that run through the film.

Written by Ivan Sen; photography, Allan Collins; music, Alister Spence and Ivan Sen; editing, Karen Johnson.