Browse films

The Widow

Brendan Young
Australia, 2018, 29 min.

In English and Italian with English subtitles.
Includes violence and adult language.

Melbourne, Australia 1965, a migrant Sicilian woman fights for her life when members of the local Calabrian mafia murder her husband and try to seize control of his wholesaling produce business.

Director's Statement

The driving ambition behind the The Widow was to create a compelling, character-driven crime film with a powerful emotional core. Key to this was framing the narrative around a mature female character. Featuring a woman in the lead role allowed for a very different take on this almost exclusively male-centric genre. The use of language was fundamental in creating an authentic period atmosphere. I wanted to recreate the language used within Italian migrant community of the time. The dialogue employs Melbourne-centric Siciliano and Calabrese dialects - often incorporating appropriated Aussie English words into the patois.

Category: Noire, Drama.
Themes: Crime, Relationships, World Cinema.