Unfinished Sky (2007)

Director:

Peter Duncan

Writers:

Peter Duncan (written by)
Kees van der Hulst (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 January 2008 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

to love, sometimes we must risk everything.

Plot:

An Outback farmer takes in an Afghani woman who has fled from a brothel. |

Plot Keywords:

Farmer | Female Nudity | Australia

Awards:

15 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

William McInnes	...	John Woldring
Monic Hendrickx	...	Tahmeena
Milo	...	Elvis
Bille Brown	...	Bob Potter
Christopher Sommers	...	Mike Potter
David Field	...	Sgt Carl Allen
Sam Cotton	...	Angus
Christina Anderson	...	Supermarket Shopper
Renai Caruso	...	Kate
Zulaikha Deen	...	Shahla (6yo)
Scott McRae	...	Policeman #1
Roy Billing	...	Royce
Mercia Deane-Johns	...	Barbara
Philippa Coulthard	...	Rose (as Philippa Couthard)
Hannah Cocker	...	Shahla (11yo)

Directed by
Peter Duncan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peter Duncan		written by
Kees van der Hulst		screenplay "De Poolse bruid"

Produced by
Tom Hoffie	....	co-producer
San Fu Maltha	....	executive producer
Hanneke Niens	....	co-producer
Cathy Overett	....	producer
Mark Overett	....	executive producer
Anton Smit	....	producer

Original Music by
Antony Partos

Cinematography by
Robert Humphreys

Film Editing by
Suresh Ayyar

Casting by
Anousha Zarkesh

Production Design by
Laurie Faen

Set Decoration by
Rebecca Cohen

Makeup Department
Bliss Macgillicuddy	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
Colleen Clarke	....	post-production supervisor
Troy Clarke	....	unit manager
Tom Hoffie	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Clabburn	....	first assistant director
Joanne Pearce	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Christian Petersen	....	set dresser
Nathalia Rayfield	....	art department coordinator
Jason Segal	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Anne Breslin	....	sound
Jason Hancock	....	foley recordist
Phil Heywood	....	sound re-recording mixer
Andrew Plain	....	supervising sound editor
John Simpson	....	foley artist
Ian Thomson	....	boom operator
William Ward	....	sound designer
William Ward	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
Matt Chance	....	compositor: Cutting Edge
Tim Walker	....	compositor: Cutting Edge

Stunts
Danny Baldwin	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Sean Aston	....	key grip
Jason Binnie	....	first assistant camera: "a" camera
Jason Ewart	....	Steadicam operator
Jason Hargreaves	....	director of photography: second unit
Paul Seipel	....	second assistant camera: "a" camera

Editorial Department
Trish Cahill	....	digital intermediate colorist
Cheryl Potter	....	first assistant editor
Justin Ngy Tran	....	digital intermediate on-line editor

Music Department
Laura Bishop	....	orchestrator
Kim Green	....	music licensing
James K. Lee	....	orchestrator
Jessica Wells	....	orchestrator
Matteo Zingales	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Sophie Dick	....	production coordinator
Andrew Hollamby	....	production runner
Rebecca Howcroft	....	assistant accountant
Nathan Smith	....	lab liaison
Scott Stewart	....	location manager

Production Companies

• New Holland Pictures
• IDTV Film

Distributors

• A-Film Distribution (2008) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Palace Films (2008) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Palace Films (2008) (New Zealand) (theatrical)
• A-Film Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Maximum Film Distribution (2008) (Canada) (all media)

Also Known As:

Céu Inacabado (Brazil) (cable TV title) [pt]

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English | Dari

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | New Zealand:M

Filming Locations:

Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia

Company:

New Holland Pictures

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "De wereld draait door: (#4.67)" (2008)

Flawed socio-romantic drama

This film demonstrates how fragile film aesthetics are. Quite possibly as a novel, which takes time to read and allows us to accommodate shifts in our emotions, it could be fine. But here we have, essentially two conflicting stories that are jammed onto one another with destructive results.

One story is a tough, indeed brutal, issues movie dealing with justice, male dominance and humanist sentiments, the other is a touching romance about two vulnerable people trying to heal each other from their emotional scars. Neither of these is very original and the one, in my view, emotionally precludes the other. When we are steamed up about injustice, we cannot access the very fine-tuned emotions associated with love.

One of the greatest things about the film medium is its ability to twist time and integrate the past into the present. But here, that is the film's undoing. If the story had been told chronologically, we would at least have been able to get the nastiness out of the way and empathise with the romance, but the threat and extremely crude depictions of the 'horrors of the brothel' keep bursting back in, destroying any subtle emotions that have been generated.