Satellite is a lingering and uncanny evocation of its environment, Melbourne. Directed by Ben Speth, shot using a digital camera and a small crew, it tracks the orbits of three characters - an ageing security guard, a young Aboriginal man and an adolescent girl - as they move through this city. Turning on the principles of time and place, buildings, laneways, parks and plazas become both a stage and a framing device for the characters and the people of Melbourne. In Speth's hands, an ostensibly ordinary city becomes a pulsing, living architectural space, with all senses heightened by the perfectly calibrated sound design.

Speth shares obvious qualities with his New York contemporaries Jem Cohen and Ira Sachs (whose debut feature The Delta was shot by Speth), most notably a sophisticated understanding of cinema and a willingness to experiment with it. In Satellite, however, he has created a work of true originality.

Ben Speth will be attending the festival.