Barossa Film Club presents one of the iconic Australian films, the classic 1975 “Sunday Too Far Away’, directed by Ken Hannam and starring Jack Thompson and a host of other Australian actors. This was the first film ever produced by the South Australian Film Corporation and made history by being the first Australian film selected for the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian outback in 1955 and its action concentrates on the shearers’ reactions to a threat to their bonuses and the arrival of non-union labour. Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, Jack Thompson plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer, and while he makes a play for the station owner’s daughter Sheila (Lisa Peers), the film is a presentation of various aspects of Australian male culture and not a romance; the film’s title itself is reputedly the lament of an Australian shearer’s wife: “Friday night [he’s] too tired; Saturday night too drunk; Sunday, too far away”.
Sunday Too Far Away won three 1975 Australian Film Institute awards: Best Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
The film will screen at 7.30 pm on Friday 9th April at the Faith College Wine Centre; doors will open at 7 pm. Due to ongoing covid restrictions it is essential to book in advance by contacting Front of House Allan Pearce on email allan_jill@bigpond.com or phone 0417 002 708. Entry is free for Club Members and membership is obtainable at the door.
