Blueback

Director: Robert Connolly
Screenwriters: Robert Connolly

Institute History

  • 2023 Sundance Film Festival

Description

While researching Australia’s deteriorating coral reefs, marine biologist Abby receives word of her elderly mother Dora’s stroke. As she rushes to her seaside hometown to care for Dora, Abby recalls her childhood years spent living in concert with the ocean, and her mother’s efforts to protect the bay from greedy developers and invasive fishermen alike, often to the detriment of their own relationship. Among the coral gardens, Abby also befriends a rare fish, the blue groper — affectionately named Blueback — a tether to her environmentalism, and the key to reminding Abby and Dora of their love for each another and the vulnerable waters they call home.


Based on Tim Winton’s 1997 novella of the same name, Blueback is a complex and emotional film about a mother and daughter’s passion for the ocean and each other. Actors Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell, and Eric Bana return to the Sundance Film Festival in this poignant, visually stunning film that serves as a beautiful reminder of the power within all of us to make a difference.


Screening Details

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