Blessed

The latest film from Ana Kokkinos (Head On, The Book of Revelation) takes place over the course of one day in Melbourne, and is presented in two parts. The first concerns children: Daniel fights with his mother; Katrina and Trisha are two teenage girls playing truant from school; Roo is a kid living on the street, contemplating desperate measures just to get by; James, an Aboriginal man, struggles to be taken seriously at work; and Orton and his sister Stacey may be young, but have already realised they can rely on each other better than they can on the adults in their world. The focus shifts to five mothers: Tanya accuses her son of stealing; Gina has a premonition that her son is dead; Laurel agonises about a secret from the past that has haunted her; Bianca looks to find comfort in the arms of a stranger; and Rhonda's tough exterior begins to give way to a realisation that she can't work out if her kids are better off with or without her. Evolving from a project by Melbourne Workers' Theatre entitled Who's Afraid of the Working Class?, and featuring some of Australia's finest acting talent, Blessed took the prize for best script when it screened at San Sebastian this year. Kokkinos skilfully weaves multiple stories together to create a deeply moving and fiercely honest study of mothers' relationship with their children. We are delighted to be able to complete our programme for The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival with this strikingly inventive film.

Michael Hayden