Looking for Alibrandi (4K Restoration)
An award-winning, generation-defining Australian coming-of-age story is restored in tomato-rich 4k for its 25th anniversary.
Josie Alibrandi thinks she’s cursed. She loves her strict nonna and mum, but finds Italian customs embarrassing, and struggles to dodge nonna’s local ‘spy ring’ of busybodies. As a scholarship girl at prestigious St Martha’s, she also worries her working-class migrant heritage and illegitimate birth make her a target for posh bullies. Heading into Year 12, Josie’s already crushing on her debating buddy, the privileged son of a political dynasty, when she meets spunky state-school rebel Jacob, who drives … eww, a panel van? This year, Josie will study, party, fight, grieve, meet her long-lost biological dad, uncover buried secrets – and maybe find who she is.
Melina Marchetta’s 1992 young adult novel was Australia’s most-stolen school library book by the time it became a critical and commercial big-screen hit eight years later. Directed by first-time filmmaker Kate Woods, Looking for Alibrandi swept the AFI Awards, beating Chopper for Best Film and Best Editing while luminous newcomer Pia Miranda won Best Leading Actress, her onscreen mum Greta Scacchi took home Best Supporting Actress and Marchetta won Best Adapted Screenplay. Alibrandi’s female-led production team bottled Australia’s millennial zeitgeist as lovingly as a jar of homemade tomato sugo – but in this new 4k anniversary restoration, its magic is fresh for the teenager of every year.
“Australia’s best teen movie … There’s no Australian film that sums up our cultural yearning for identity like Looking for Alibrandi.” – The Guardian