We Bury the Dead (Drama)

Rating:

Director: Zak Hilditch
Producer: Mark Fasano,Ross Dinerstein,Grant Sputore,Kelvin Munro,Joshua Harris
Screenwriter: Zak Hilditch
Cinematographer: Steven Annis
Composer: Chris Clark
Editor: Merlin Eden
Key Cast: Mark Coles Smith,Brenton Thwaites,Daisy Ridley

After a military experiment turns Tasmania into a corpse-strewn wasteland, Ava joins the clean-up crew, hoping to find her missing husband.

A catastrophic US military blunder sees a WMD accidentally deployed off the coast of Tasmania, seemingly wiping out the island’s entire population in an instant. Among the dead appears to be Ava’s (Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) husband, caught in the blast while travelling for work. When Ava hears rumours of possible survivors, she flies from the US to Tasmania to volunteer for the army-led body retrieval unit, on the slim chance she might find her husband still alive.

In his latest survival thriller, writer/director and MIFF Premiere Fund alum Zak Hilditch (These Final Hours, MIFF 2013) reanimates the zombie genre with fresh ideas and disturbing philosophical quandaries about the boundaries of consciousness. Its creature design is both visually and aurally terrifying, with Oscar-nominated make-up and prosthetics designer Jason Baird (Elvis) leading the exceptional practical-effects work, while sound designer Duncan Campbell ramps up the tension with the chattering and clacking of zombie teeth-grinding – the telltale sign of an imminent attack.

“[We Bury the Dead] approaches the well-worn subgenre with brand-new spins, resulting in haunting scenes that open a cinematic window into the darkest, most mysterious parts of the human condition.” – Variety


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Director Zak Hilditch and cast member Mark Coles Smith are guests of the festival and will be in attendance at both sessions of the film.