A jaded call-girl. A fledgling hooker. The night from hell.

The seedy underbelly of Sydney's red-light district becomes a violently dangerous place in filmmaker Jon Hewitt's X, the much-awaited follow-up to his dark 2008 serial killer romp, Acolytes.

When high-class call-girl Holly (Viva Bianca) decides to call it quits, she ropes in young, beautiful runaway Shay (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence) for her last job. When they find themselves in the wrong room at the wrong time, the night takes a deadly turn - and the two women find themselves on the run from a maniac out for blood.

Explicit, raw and relentless, X is a dark thriller set close to home - among the thugs, drug addicts and sex workers of Sydney's criminal underworld.

Jon Hewitt is a guest of the Festival.

D Jon Hewitt P Lizzette Atkins S Belinda McClory, Jon Hewitt Dist Potential Films TD 35mm/2011