AWARD winning Swan View filmmaker Steven J. Mihaljevich is back with the launch of his second feature film, Violett, beginning next month.
The psychological mystery film, shot and set in the Perth Hills, will be screened at the Kookaburra Outdoor Cinema in Mundaring, on December 8, 9, and 10 and will be followed by a wider theatrical release next year.
Mr Mihaljevich said the film is about a mentally unstable mother, played by Georgia Eyers, who has lost her memory and is trying to stop what she thinks is an evil that is trying to steal her daughter from her. He describes it as a surrealistic fairytale thriller with elements of absurdist horror.
“It’s sort of like if David Lynch tried to make Wizard of Oz, you’d probably have an idea of what I was trying to make,” he said.
Violett, written and directed by Mihaljevich, has already won several awards, including best Australian feature film and best Australian feature film performance at the A Night Of Horror International Film Festival in Sydney. The film has also been nominated for four WA screen culture awards, including best narrative feature, best production design, best original score, and best performance (under 18s).
No stranger to critical acclaim, Mr Mihaljevich’s first film, The Xrossing, received international success in 2020 and won the best micro-budget film award at the Toronto Independent Film Festival and the best feature film at the London Independent Film Awards.
The Xrossing, filmed and set in and around Swan View, was only available for online streaming in North America, but as of the end of October can finally be viewed by Australians via Apple TV and Prime Video.
Mr Mihaljevich said he’s happy that people from Swan View and the Perth Hills are now able to watch the film.
“Because there are so many scenes in the neighbourhood, it’s super exciting for locals. I had locals come up to me [excitedly] that they’d seen their house,” he said.
“There was a lot of buzz about it (at the time), and it’s cool we can rejuvenate that, and people can finally watch it online.”
