• 9.40–11.05 PM
• 05 June 2023
• Piazza Palmieri

An exploration of the timeless relationship between human civilization and Earth’s rivers. Spanning six continents, this visual and musical tour-de-force is by turns celebratory, cautionary, and ultimately hopeful that we are beginning to understand rivers in all their complexity and fragility. Narrated by Oscar Nominee Willem Dafoe. With music by the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Radiohead.

Director

Jennifer Peedom is a BAFTA nominated director, known for her gripping, intimate portraits of people in extreme circumstances. Her credits include the internationally renowned feature documentaries Solo, Sherpa, Mountain, a collaboration with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. River, her follow up to Mountain, won multiple awards internationally. She’s currently in development on a dramatic feature about Tenzing Norgay (Everest first ascent) with writer Luke Davies (Lion, Beautiful Boy). In 2010, Jen was the inaugural recipient of the David & Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship which recognizes and rewards creative ambition, intellectual rigour and innovation in documentary cinema. She runs Stranger Than Fiction Films, a boutique production company based in Sydney, Australia.

Co-director

Joseph Nizeti is an AACTA award-winning director, writer, producer and composer. Combining a formal background in music with a life-long love of film storytelling, Joseph has brought a unique creative perspective to a range of acclaimed projects across the Australian film & music industries. Joseph is the co-director/co-writer of award-winning feature documentary River (2021), writer/director of the forthcoming IMAX documentaries Fungi: The Web of Life (2022) and Sunchasers: The Secret Life of Butterflies (2023), writer/director/composer of TV documentary Anatomy of a String Quartet (2022) and co-producer of science documentary series Phenomena (2021). Beginning in late-2022, Joseph founded new production company Cosmic Breakfast to service a growing slate of unique comedy, drama and documentary projects.

Original Title: River
English Title: River
Original Language: English
Month and Year of Production: 2021
Color/Black and White: Color
Camera: Chris Burkard (still photographer), Christian Fletcher (still photographer), Peter McBride (still photographer), Hugh Miller (additional cinematography), Sean Scott (still photographer)
Audio: Glenn Butler (re-recording engineer), Greg Crawford (original dialog recordist), Matteo Di Simone (re-recording mixer), Robert Mackenzie (re-recording mixer / sound designer), Jessica Meier (sound assistant), Christopher Vetrisano (foley artist), Tara Webb (sound designer)
Country of Production: Australia, United Kingdom
Duration: 75’
Director: Jennifer Peedom, Joseph Nizeti (co-director)
Production: Stranger Than Fiction Films, Arrow Media, Arrow Pictures
Producer: Lorelle Adamson (co-producer), Anna Godas (executive producer), David Gross (executive producer), Oli Harbottle (executive producer), Jo-Anne McGowan (producer), Jennifer Peedom (producer), John Smithson (producer), Paul Wiegard (executive producer)
Cast: Willem Dafoe
Photography: Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Ben Knight, Peter McBride, Renan Ozturk
Editing: Simon Njoo
Music / Original Soundtrack: William Barton, Piers Burbrook de Vere, Richard Tognetti
Awards:Best International Feature, Florida Film Festival 2022, Best Documentary, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards 2022, Best Original Score in a Documentary, Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards 2022, Best Original Song Composed for the Screen, APRA Screen Music Awards 2022, Best Soundtrack Album, APRA Screen Music Awards 2022