THE ROOSTER (MA15+)
Mystery/Thriller ‧ 1h 41m
Dan, an introverted police officer in a small country town, begins to unravel after he fails to follow police protocol when dealing with an incident involving his childhood friend Steve. The next day Steve’s body is found in the bush, buried in a shallow grave. Unfit to work and haunted by guilt, Dan spirals. When his pet rooster is killed by a fox, Dan lets go of the fragile tether he has on his sanity and retreats to camp out in the forest where Steve was found. After a chance encounter with an eccentric hermit living amongst the trees, Dan suspects that this man may have been the last person to see Steve alive. As Dan seeks answers, an unusual bond forms between the two men over games of table tennis. But all is not as it seems when Dan discovers that the hermit may have been responsible for a terrible act of violence.
WINNER – Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film – Mark Leonard Winter
Australian Directors’ Guild Awards 2023
Best Supporting Actor in Film – Hugo Weaving – AACTA – Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts
“Weaving has rarely, perhaps never, been better.” Karl Quinn – The Age
“The Rooster stands tall as a true original. You won’t leave the cinema untouched”
