'As the Australian filmmakers who have emerged over the past 15 years have demonstrated, following up an acclaimed debut is an especially devilish task. It makes sense: first films are long in the gestation and done for the love. Afterwards the newly feted director, feeling the pressure to strike while the iron is hot, attaches to an existing, often rickety project that pays well, or dusts off a script from the bottom drawer that should have stayed there.' (Introduction)