Garden Reflexxx

Grape Steak

99 mins
Directed by Jen Atherton & André Shannon

Screened at:
Ancient World
ART+FILM at Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI)
Golden Age Cinema
Dogmilk Degustations at Miscellania
Pink Flamingo Cinema
Spectacle Theater

Grape Steak is a wishfully ambient portal, a love-poem of trauma and humiliation set in Sydney, a slow comedy for a come-down, made resourcefully and communally over five years.

When Toad (Rattus Rat) emerges from a violent bashing they are helped by three incompetent adventurers (Gloria Bose, André Shannon + Freya Aisbitt) who leave them, with some cash, on the side of a country road. The film circles back to uncover how and why these grifters found themselves in the middle of the bush, during Mardi Gras searching for a mysterious cult called The Energy. Narrated by AACTA award winning Enoch Mailangi featuring the incomparable Lily Bennett as Elizabeth, an Australian-American true crime podcaster, Grape Steak is a portrait of a certain time in Sydney told through the eyes of a specific type of Sydneysider.

Made predominantly on unceded Gadigal land, with scenes shot in Thailand, France, The Netherlands, Kaurna Country and Yuin Country. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and shout out to the Indigenous filmmakers and pioneers who consistently make much better films than we ever could.

Featuring an original score by Megan Alice Clune and music by Alaska Orchestra, California Girls, Eris Drew, Ex-Rental, Macy Rodman, Magda, Planningtorock, Strict Face & Weyón

Starring:

Rattus Rat as Toad
Gloria Bose as Gloria
Freya Aisbitt as Gayle 
Enoch Mailangi as Hayley
André Shannon as Bart
Porsche as Herself
Rhys Pepic as Fadey Jadey
Buddy Joel as Lesley
Neil Addison Beedie as Skyler
Luke N T Ada as Baby Hayden
Henry Benn as Mordecai  
Lily Bennett as Elizabeth
NICOLA as Hot Dancer 1
Beau Kirq as Hot Dancer 2
Aaron Manhattan as Hot Dancer 3
Meti Fenwick-Nevin as Pinky
Robert McGrath as Gaspar Noe
Brian as themself
Samuel Bowman as The Filmmaker
Eric Hancock as The Drummer

Cinematography
Max Boutwell Draper
Claire De Cateret
Daniel Hartley-Allen
Jen Atherton
Yahya

Original Score
Megan Alice Clune

Sound Mix
Niko Plaskas

Additional Sound
Ry Edwards

Mardi Gras Location Sound
Kean Hoi

Meteor Animation
Iris Green

Eta Aquarid Footage
Ufowatcher

Camera Drawings
Lily Bennett

Featured Artwork
Little Skin, 2019
Neil Addison Beedie

Main Title Design
Alex Tanazefti

Images made with
Apple iPhone SE & (Product)Red

Recycled 35/16mm scratch film
Arri Amira
Macbook Air (Photobooth)
Sony Handycam Vision
JVC Everio
Sony NX200