Director’s Cut: Louise Wadley is “All About E”
Image: A scene from Louise Wadley's "All About E", which will screen during the Melbourne Queer Film Festival.
PREMIERING to rave audience reviews at last month’s Mardi Gras Film Festival in Sydney, All About E is a road movie and a romantic thriller about a Sydney DJ, the titular E, who goes on the run after she and her gay best friend stumble upon a bag full of cash.
“It’s a film about trying to find the courage to be true to yourself and follow your dreams, and have the courage to do the hard things,” director Louise Wadley said.
“A lot of us live in a couple of worlds. I think when people are gay they very rarely get to be the same person to everyone, and I think that’s something that the character E has to deal with.”
Wadley’s central character comes from a very traditional Lebanese family, and the film is in part about E’s struggles with what she wants and what her family wants.
E is also a heartbreaker, and while the director had fun playing to that archetype — the lesbian “love rat” — she argued the key to a good story was making a complex, believable character.
“I’m much more interested in characters who are quite layered and have a lot of dimensions,” Wadley said.
“I think the challenge for me was to try and show a character who maybe seemed a bit unlikeable at the beginning, and although she’s a bit of a heartbreaker, try and explain what’s all behind that and her behaviour and do it in a way that’s perhaps less clichéd.”
Australian camp classics like The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding are among Wadley’s favourite films, and she argued making a genre film gave her the opportunity to be both entertaining and thought-provoking.
The director also relished the opportunity to make something funny.
“Lesbians, we are known for not doing very funny films — plenty of people have said, ‘I cannot sit through another bad lesbian film where everyone dies, or cries all the time’,” she said.
“That was the fun part for me, to have a comedy.”
All About E is screening on Sunday, March 29 at 3.30pm.
The 25th Melbourne Queer Film Festival is on March 19–30. For the full line up of movies, venue details and to book tickets, visit: mqff.com.au
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**This article was first published in the April edition of the Star Observer, which is available to read in digital flip-book format. To obtain a physical copy, click here to find out where you can grab one in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra and select regional/coastal areas.
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