FROM VARIETY -
Australian sci-fi thriller ‘Monolith’ starring rising star Lily Sullivan (“Evil Dead Rise,” “Picnic at Hanging Rock”) has been picked up for international sales by the U.K.’s Blue Finch Films.
XYZ Films is representing the title in North America. Bonsai Films is handling it in Australia.
“Monolith” will have its international premiere as part of SXSW’s Midnighters section after having screened at Adelaide Film Festival in 2022.
The story tracks a disgraced journalist (portrayed by Sullivan) as she tries to salvage her career by turning to investigative podcasting. While trying to get to bottom of a strange artefact that may be linked to an alien conspiracy, she begins to uncover the lies at the heart of her own story. “Monolith” was directed by Matt Vesely, making his feature debut. It was written by Lucy Campbell and produced by Bettina Hamilton and was filmed across a three-week period in one location in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills.
It was developed and produced through the FilmLab: New Voices program, an initiative run by the South Australian Film Corporation and the Adelaide Film Festival, financed with the assistance of Screen Australia, designed to develop and elevate first time South Australian feature filmmakers.
FilmLab: New Voices is the SAFC’s flagship talent development program and is a re-boot of the SAFC’s highly successful FilmLab program which last decade enabled the feature debuts of some of South Australia’s most talented screen creatives. Completed at the end of 2022, “Monolith” is the first film to come out of the lab. A second round is currently in development.