New Australian feature The Waiting City is set to make a splash at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The film as directed by young Australian filmmaker Claire McCarthy, whose previous credits include Sisters and the feature film Cross Life, starring Paul Caeser and Tony Barry. The Waiting City is a definite step up for McCarthy in terms of her cast’s notoriety, with such big Australian names as Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and Isabel Lucas starring. It also has the unique distinction of being the first Australian film to be shot entirely in India.

The Waiting City follows the story of a young, seemingly happy couple travelling to Kolkata to finalise the adoption of an Indian child. However, whilst on the unfamiliar, intoxicating streets of a new city they start to drift apart from one another, the vulnerability of their marriage eventually revealing itself. It is a complex love story set against the epic backdrop of the bustling, historical city of Kolkata.

The Waiting City has been selected as a part of the TIFF’s Special Presentation section, a distinction usually reserved for older, more experienced filmmakers, which shows just how impressed the Toronto programming team is with the film. This fact will go a long way to distinguishing Claire McCarthy as an elite film director.

The Waiting City was developed in association with the former Australian Film Commission’s INDIVISION program and was financed by Screen Australia, the new Producer Offset, Spectrum Films, Efilm, Exodus and the NSW Film and Television Office. Radha Mitchell is also an Executive Producer. The Waiting City joins other Australian films Bright Star, Mao’s Last Dancer and The Boys are Back at the festival. All films will be released by Hopscotch in the coming months.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from 10th-19th September.

TIFF Links:
TIFF Reviews
Official TIFF Site ‘The Waiting City’ page