Shane McNeil, Manager of Programs & Development, Media Resource Centre SA describes the screenplay of A Very Foreign Film as "Clever, funny and inventive. Imagine Charlie Kaufman meeting Pedro Almodóvar and poking him in the eye with a pen...".
Over the past decade, Sarah McLauchlan has worked as a visual effects coordinator and editor alongside some of the world's most renowned directors including Peter Jackson for Lord of the Rings I; the Wachowskis for The Matrix Reloaded and Michael Apted for The Chronicles of Narnia III. Sarah's previous films include the surreal black comedy No Spoons and the dark fantasy A World Away.
A World Away starred newcomer Zoe Charman, Logie nominee Jodie Dry and two-time Logie winner Peter O'Brien and has screened at the Shorts Film Festival (SA), the Dungog Film Festival (NSW) and the St Kilda Film Festival (VIC). Reviews include:
"The standard of short films submitted to Dungog 2010 was extremely high. But when I saw Sarah McLauchlan's 'A World Away', it immediately stood out from the crowd. Her talent as a writer/director is innovative and very impressive. I wish her and producer Michael Clarkin all the best for their future projects and I can't wait to watch them on the big screen."
Laura Macdonald, Head of Programming, Dungog Film Festival
"A beautiful film."
Peter Goers, ABC Radio Adelaide
Michael Clarkin graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2000 and has since produced numerous short films as well as working in crew roles on productions including Wolf Creek and Underbelly III: The Golden Mile. In 2006, Clarkin was awarded a Churchill Fellowship that enabled him to work in development at New York's This is that Corp with producers Ted Hope and Anne Carey.
Sarah and Michael view A Very Foreign Film as a significant milestone in achieving their long-term goal of producing feature films.