EXCLUSIVE: Watch The First Trailer For ‘Down Under’, A Black Comedy About The Cronulla Riots

The 2005 violence on the beaches of Cronulla is one of our nation’s darkest moments, and one which unfortunately speaks volumes to certain elements of our culture. The riots, which broke out as white residents tried to “take back” the area from young Middle Eastern men, had been fuelled by underlying racial tensions for some time. Both the severity of the acts and the rate at which they spread were a shocking indictment of the kind of xenophobia and bigotry that, to some extent, continues in Australia to this day.

Now here’s that comedy you wanted about it all!

Down Under, a new film which is set to premiere at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, bills itself as “a provocative black comedy set during the aftermath of the Cronulla riots”. The film follows (kind of) real-life events through two fictional groups of “hotheads” from either side of the fight. There’s the appropriately named Shit Stick (Alexander England) and his motley group of mates who commit themselves to patrolling the neighbourhood (or, as he describes it to his young daughter, “Daddy’s gotta go beat up some wogs”). And then there’s Hassim (Lincoln Younes) and Nick (Rahel Romahn) who undergo a retaliation mission following the initial attacks.

This is the second feature film from writer and director Abe Forsythe (who’s previously appeared in Australian shows like Always Greener and Laid). Forsythe has been very open about the fact he wants to “provoke a reaction” with the film and with such vivid characters and political issues it looks like he’ll have no problem achieving that goal. That provocation does however seem to be for a good reason.

“All my favourite comedies are tragedies and what happened to our national identity on the day of the Cronulla riots was a tragedy,” Forsythe says. “I can’t wait for people to follow the characters and the world my cast and crew have helped me build. It’s not that different from the world we currently live in.”

–

Down Under premieres at the Sydney Film Festival on June 15. Tickets are available here. It’ll be in cinemas around the country from August 11.