Moving Out

A teenage Vince Colosimo makes his film debut in this 1983 coming-of-age tale about an Italian-Australian boy caught between two worlds.

Fifteen-year-old Gino Condello (Colosimo) lives with his migrant family in North Fitzroy and tries to fit in with his Aussie mates. He barracks for Collingwood and refuses to speak Italian, even though his parents rely on him to help interpret English. Gino wants to be less of a ‘wog’, but just when he feels like his pals are finally accepting him as a ‘real’ Australian, his parents decide to relocate from the inner city to a bigger, better house in the suburbs.

Moving Out was the first of several collaborations between director Michael Pattinson and screenwriter Jan Sardi; the screenplay is based on Sardi’s experiences as a teacher at St Joseph’s College in North Fitzroy, where Colosimo was a student. One of the earliest Australian films to deal with the migrant experience as a celebration of multiculturalism and difference rather than a tale of assimilation, it has a gritty, authentic sense of place, lovingly capturing various Melbourne locations: Brunswick, including the old Technical School, Collingwood and leafy, suburban Doncaster.

“A professionally crafted, deeply felt and thoroughly entertaining film that has something to say to all ages and all classes.” – The Age (1983)

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Please note: The in-cinema screening of this feature film will be preceded by the short film Winter’s Harvest.