Festival Poster
BOOK WEEK (2018)
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Dir. HEATH DAVIS
DP. CHRIS BLAND
PRO. Heath Davis, Joe Weatherstone
When it looks like his novel is going to be published (his sixth attempt) high school English teach Nicholas Cutler thinks his life is about to change for the better. But what is meant to be the best week of his life soon becomes seven days of hell. A girlfriend's ultimatum, a student in trouble with the law, a gravely-ill brother-in-law and the prospects of living a life of unfulfilled dreams forces Mr. Cutler to re-evaluate just what's important in life.
Filmed in the Blue Mountains, Book Week is a shaggy dark comedy about a disgraced novelist turned English teacher trying to find redemption.
For generations, dressing up for Book Week has been an Aussie school tradition. But for high-school English teacher Nicholas Cutler (Alan Dukes), it’s the week from hell. Once a literary enfant terrible, and now simply a terrible man, he’s now struggling to instil a love of reading in teenagers who’d rather toy with their phones and dress up as movie superheroes. Trying to roll with these bad new times, Nicholas has penned a trashy zombie story. He’s tantalisingly close to a literary comeback – but it’ll be at the expense of his students, colleagues and long-suffering family. Will this be the week Mr Cutler finally has people’s backs, not paperbacks?
Writer/director Heath Davis based this film on his own experiences as a teacher. Shot in Katoomba and featuring Western Sydney locals as extras, Book Week offers a wry new comedy with a genial fondness for community – the kind you don’t always find in books.
Press:
REVIEW: SCREEN SPACE
NEWS: Melbourne Film Festival Premier
NEWS: MTV Article
