Cirrus@Austlit

'From Gothic mythologies and schlock-horror antics to ‘Where the Bloody Hell Are Ya?’ politicos, mismanaged Sunrise protests on Gold Coast beaches and Big Brother, Australian film and TV has only rarely been able to offer up anything other than self-effacing jokes. With this in mind, it is remarkable how deftly Alena Lodkina’s debut feature film, Strange Colours, manages to cut across this massive, permanent identity crisis of a country by bringing together two of its most prevalent motifs: resource exploitation and unrequited love. One reason for this could be that the film was not financed in Australia but in Italy. So if the answer is Australia, what was the question?'  (Introduction)