Film In Preview

'Blessed' is a tale of how the bond between mother and child is one that can overcome any obstacle, regardless of the circumstances. As award-winning director Ana Kokkinos describes, it’s a bond that’s universal and 'Blessed' is a story that reaches out to anyone, anywhere.

Based on the award winning play 'Who's Afraid of the Working Class?', ‘Blessed’ is a story of great beauty and sadness but also of hope. It’s also the first Australian film in 12 years to be selected for main competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

“There were four writers involved with the writing of that play and I found that all the characters in the play were really compelling, very fresh, very alive and very immediate sort of characters who were ordinary people dealing with their everyday lives with great courage and intelligence, humour and dignity,” she says.

“That was a really strong point of connection for me with the play and I just saw that there was a great potential to make a beautiful film from it.”

The film, which has had a fantastic response from audiences so far, tells a story over a period of 24 hours, of the lives of seven children who wander the streets in an urban odyssey, some of whom find their way home and others not. When dawn finally breaks the same story plays out, this time from the viewpoint of the mothers.

“The relationship between mother and child is such an important one, it's primal and it can be full of conflict but also great love and I was really interested in the idea of the struggle to love and be loved and to explore the way in which sometimes as a teenager, you get to a point in your life where you want to test the boundaries and do things that you know your mum or your dad aren't going to approve of,” she tells.

“So what I was really interested in saying with this film was that despite the difficulties that sometimes kids encounter with their parents, all kids and all mothers have this incredible, unbreakable bond between them, no matter what shit is going down.”

'Blessed' is Ana Kokkinos' third full-length feature film, after her debut movie 'Head On' that starred Alex Dimitriadis and featured at Cannes International Film Festival. Her second film, the controversial drama 'The Book of Revelation', saw her nominated in three major categories at the 2006 AFI Awards.

‘Blessed’ is released September 10.