Honorable Mention – “Rear View Mirror” (Australia)

Title: Rear View Mirror
Runtime: 11 min
Country: Australia  
Director: Jonathan May
Placement: Honorable Mention
Competition: June, 2019

Synopsis: “When the impermanence of life and land collide, what remains inside the heart and soul of a man”

Ingo Hansen returns to the desert opal mining town where he grew up, struggling with his health and searching for answers.   At a crossroads in his life, he seeks comfort in reminiscing the impact of the harsh landscapes and crazy adventures he had in Andamooka – one of the most remote places in South Australia. 
 

Ingo soon realises that the thriving outback town he once loved is now bleak and it mercilessly parallels his own impermanence; the harsh winds of life blow not just on the desert but also inside his heart.  In its glory days Andamooka had over 3000 residents, but now the opal has dried up and it is a former shadow of itself – with a total population of 316. 
 

It takes a certain type of person to love a place like this, with the isolation and the desolation.  Walking through the cemetery Ingo reflects on the grim truths of his reality, and how strange it is to know every body that lies beneath him in the dust.  As in life, both the once beautiful landscape and the once promising future he faced are slowly fading way and the story is unforgiving.