Actress Juliet Scrine in a scene from the film Frances. Photo: Supplied.
An Illawarra short film focusing on the homelessness crisis is making waves on the festival circuit, collecting multiple awards and nominations.
Frances, a 40-minute film produced by Illawarra filmmakers Sharon Lewis and Richard Jones that has resonated deeply with audiences, delves into the housing affordability crisis, portraying how a situation can quickly lead to homelessness.
Sharon, who was also director, said they were drawn to telling the story after speaking to a woman who had become homeless.
“Then we noticed from daily walks on the beach that there were a lot of people living in their cars and who seemed to be working remotely on laptops from their cars as well,” Sharon said.
“Talking to people, we found a single person, even if they do work and they have an income, is finding it very difficult to be able to afford housing.”
Starring well-known Illawarra actor and director Juliet Scrine, the film is about university lecturer, Frances, a resilient and hardworking woman navigating the aftermath of a recent divorce.
Sharon said over the past month the film had led to winning the International Short Cinema Festival’s Best Cinematography and Best Short 20-40 minutes; winning the Titan International Film Fest’s Best Australian Film; and being a semi-finalist in the Australian Independent Film Festival’s Short Film Australian section.
It was also a Montreal Women’s Film Festival’s Best Short Narrative nominee; Toronto Independent Women’s Short Film Festival Best Narrative Short official selection; and the Miami Women’s Film Festival Best Narrative Short official selection.
“So it’s doing OK,” she said, laughing.
“I’m happy because I really wanted the message of the film to get across to an audience.
“It’s a story we wanted to tell because we wanted people to be able to identify with the character as being someone they may know, like a sister, a mother, an aunt.
“It’s to bring light to the housing affordability crisis that’s happening at the moment and show that it could happen to anybody.”
Sharon said it was a reminder of how quickly someone could end up homeless if faced with divorce, illness or losing a job and being unable to afford rent or a mortgage, with women over 50 one of the fastest growing demographics.
She said that while the festival recognition was unexpected, she was most surprised by the reaction at a screening of the film with cast, crew and Screen Illawarra members.
“We did have some people … who found it a little bit overwhelming, whether it was because they knew someone in a similar situation, or they thought of themselves being easily in that situation,” she said.
“I didn’t realise how sad the film was, because we edited it, so we’d watched it so many times.
“Then to see an audience’s reaction for the first time of seeing it, it was quite overwhelming how much of an impact it was having on people.
“But the feedback has been really good.”
She said many of the Australian festivals had premiere status, which meant the film needed to complete the festival circuit before having public screenings.
“We are planning on doing some fundraisers to raise money for one of our homeless organisations, so there will be an opportunity to see it locally probably in January,” she said.
Frances was created by cast and crew donating their time, and the locations being made available free of charge. Locations included the Illawarra Escarpment, University of Wollongong’s Innovation Campus and Wollongong businesses.
“Myself and my partner Richard Jones are the producers, and any funding that went into it came out of our own pocket, so everybody volunteering their time was a godsend,” she said.
“It’s great for them that it’s also doing well at festivals because it gives them some credit as well going into work on other projects.”
Sharon and Richard have predominantly focused on creating music videos, but the success of Frances has spurred them on to do more short films.
“We’ve got another short film in the works at the moment, which is a similar theme, but it’s a different story,” she said.
“The plan is to have half hour chapters that we could possibly piece together into a feature or as a little series.
“They’ll be other homeless stories that reinforce the message that we’re trying to tell in Frances.”
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