La Foa Film Festival, New Caledonia

The La Foa Film Festival continues to bring independent cinema to life in the Overseas Territories. For its 24th anniversary, organized from July 22 to 31, the New Caledonian event will take over the dark rooms of La Foa, Nouméa and other partner municipalities (Dumbéa, Boulouparis...). Faithful to its ideal of promoting the “filmmakers of tomorrow”, the festival will welcome Australian director, actress and screenwriter Madeleine Blackwell. After two remarkable short films (Father, Elsewhere), the Australian filmmaker will come to defend her first feature film, Damage (2022). This comedy-drama depicts the encounter between an illegal taxi driver and an old lady with dementia in their deeply human quest to reach a "vague destination".

Damage Named Among Most Anticipated Australian Films by ScreenHub

Damage was selected by David Tiley as one of the most anticipated Australian films of 2021 in an article for ScreenHub that was updated in May 2021. Tiley comments: "a first feature, by Madeleine Blackwell after a long career as a television actress. Produced by Sharon Cleary, Peter Thurmer and Blackwell herself."

​ Read more at ScreenHub.

Review by InReview

Damage received a positive review from Suzie Keen of InReview after screening in a pre-final cut form at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2020. She states: "Filmed in Adelaide with a pair of non-actors – one the director’s own mother, the other an Iraqi asylum seeker – Damage centres on two people who appear to be polar opposites but are thrown together in a taxi journey that changes them both."

Read the full article on InReview.