We acknowledge Australia’s First Nations People as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land, and pay respect to the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose Country SFF are based.
We honour the storytelling and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

The Flats

Directed by Alessandra Celesia
2024
France
114 minutes
Unclassified 18+
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The residents of a Belfast housing estate grapple with the unresolved legacy of the Troubles by staging re-enactments, in this critically acclaimed major-prize winner at CPH:DOX 2024.

New Lodge, a Republican enclave in West Belfast, is home to self-described “ordinary decent criminal” Joe McNally and his dog Freedom. It’s a community troubled by memories of violence and lives lost, now besieged by sexual assault and drug abuse. As a way of reconciling with the past, Joe decides to re-enact his young uncle’s wake. In a scene reminiscent of Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing (SFF 2013), Joe manhandles a coffin into his cramped flat, then convinces others to participate in his macabre project – and re-enact their collective memories. The Flats lays bare a complex, brutal legacy with forensic precision.

Limited seats are available for patrons requiring access for wheelchairs, low vision and hearing loop. Please contact our ticketing team directly on 1300 733 733 or tickets@sff.org.au to complete your booking.
It’s a powerful, urgent and deeply sad film
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
A dark, uneasy reminder of the indelible, multi-generational stain of violence
Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International

Special Guest

Alessandra Celesia
Director, Screenwriter
Alessandra Celesia is an Italian-born filmmaker currently based in Paris and Belfast. Her sophomore film The Bookseller of Belfast (2011) was co-produced by ARTE France and was screened at Visions du Reel in Lussa. Following this, she continued co-producing films with ARTE France with Anatomia del Miracolo, which was selected at Locarno in 2017.

Tickets

Thu 6 Jun
6:10pm
Dendy Newtown - Cinema 1
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Past Event Cancel
Sun 9 Jun
3:10pm
Event Cinemas George Street - Cinema 11
Assisted Listening
Wheelchair
Subtitled
Past Event Cancel
Program Strand
International Documentaries
Year
2024
Classification
Unclassified 18+
Country
France, Belgium, UK, Ireland
Language
In English and Irish with English subtitles
Director
Alessandra Celesia
Producer
Geneviève De Bauw, Jean-Laurent Csinidis, John McIlduff, Jeremiah Cullinane
Screenwriter
Alessandra Celesia
Cinematographer
François Chambe
Editor
Frédéric Fichefet
Premiere
Australian Premiere
Genre
Documentary, Women Directors, Festival Award Winners, Filmmaking
Company Credits
Sales Agent: The Party Sales
Official Website
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