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Join us for a revealing Q&A session with director Madeleine Blackwell, talking about her Australian drama, undiscovered connections, and how mere humanity can bond us all.
Ali (Ali Al Jenabi) is not a citizen.
He drives a taxi using another man’s license and relies on the GPS to negotiate his way around a city he doesn’t know.
His passenger, Esther (Imelda Bourke) is an old woman who can’t remember where she is going. She is angry because she has been stripped of everything that is familiar to her and she doesn’t recognise the world anymore.
They travel through the night in search of a vague destination while surveillance cameras mark their journey, coldly redacting the human element, defining who belongs and who does not, who is safe and who is not.
What they are left with is their damage – she can’t remember and he can’t forget.
“Stunning.” Mat Kesting, Adelaide Film Festival Director
“Imelda Bourke the singer, in her film debut at the age of 92 and she is fantastic… It’s a glorious film.” Peter Goers, ABC Radio National Adelaide
“Damage is a poetic film of deep emotions which travels through the night and the rain to find beauty and affinity, bound together by two magnificent performances from Ali Al Jenabi and Imelda Bourke.” Noel Purdon, former recipient of the Pascall Prize for Film Criticism