Tiaki Teremoana in Stranger, Brother. (2025)

Tiaki Teremoana of “Stranger, Brother” (Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival).

The opening sequence at Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, January 25th, 2025, for “Stranger, Brother,” an Australian short directed by Tongan/Australian director Annelise Hickey, is a beautiful ocean scene, silhouetting charismatic lead Tiaki Teremoanna who plays Adam. The music (Will Morrissey composed) is good. The gorgeous horizon quickly morphs into a street scene, shot with  jerky hand-held strobe-like effects by Director of Photography Matthew Chuang Acs.

The camera work was very effective to illustrate Adam’s recent  dissolute lifestyle, including time spent distracting himself from his real life and his original family of origin.  Costa-Gavras used the jerky hand-held camera technique way back in 1969’s “Z” and critics internationally swooned. It has since become a cinema staple. It is used effectively in the scenes that depict Adam’s attempts to run away from his real life and  family  by living life in the fast lane in night-time Australia.

It is a surprise when—after a night spent partying—Adam’s half-brother Moses (called Moss) turns up unexpectedly  on Adam’s  doorstep. The younger boy (Moses) has a different mother than Adam. Their Aboriginal father has provided no advance warning about Moses’ arrival or why he might be visiting. Adam does ask (“So, are you gonna’ tell me why you’re really here?”) but the younger brother does not immediately answer.

The two make a trip to the grocery store and exchange normal conversational banter about the relative “hotness” of Laura (Charly Thorn), but it isn’t until they are together on the beach that there Is a real break-through in communicating, as Adam finally succeeds in contacting their mutual father by phone and learns that Moses’ mother, Mary, is dying in hospice. Moss is upset and tense and the brothers nearly come to blows on the beach. Adam seems to realize, in that moment, that he has an obligation as Moses’ older  half-brother, to provide some stability and a haven for a young boy in distress. It is fitting that the end of the short film takes place where it began, on the shore of the same beautiful beach where it began.

The film was shot on the unceded lands of the Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, which is sacred Aboriginal land.

The lead (Tiaki Teremoana) as Adam is particularly charismatic and the message about accepting and supporting one’s family, no matter how fractured that family may be, is clear. The sound, music, and cinematography help drive home that point.  Director Annelise Hickey, who earned an award as the emerging Australian filmmaker at the 2023 Melbourne Film Awards has supervised an interesting and meaningful 14’ 31” short film that premiered at the Egyptian Theater at Sundance on Saturday night, January 25, 2025.

The film’s short synopsis read:

“Two estranged half-brothers are thrust together when 10-year-old Mose unexpectedly appears on millennial Adam’s doorstep. Annoyed by the disruption to his care-free life, Adam struggles to contact their elusive father for answers but is met with silence. Tensions rise as Mose begins to suspect that Adam is ashamed of him, while Adam discovers the poignant truth: Mose’s mother is dying. The brothers clash in a heated confrontation that ultimately reveals their unspoken need for each other.

Meet the Artist

Panelist Name

Annelise Hickey is a narrative filmmaker from Naarm (Melbourne). Her debut short, Hafekasi (2023 Tribeca Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival), earned a Narrative Short Special Jury Mention. Hickey is the recipient of the 2023 Emerging Australian Filmmaker award at the Melbourne Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of the Sundance Film Festival).

Credits

  • Director(s)

    Annelise Hickey

  • Screenwriter

    Annelise Hickey

  • Producers

    Tessa Mansfield-Hung

    Josie Baynes

  • Director of Photography

    Matthew Chuang ACS

  • Production Designer

    Francesca Carey

  • Edited by

    Grace Eyre

  • Music Composer

    Will Morrissey

  • Sound Designer

    Sean Wilkinson

  • Colorist

    CJ Dobson CSI

  • Executive Producer

    Jarred Osborn

  • Principal Cast

    Tiaki Teremoana

    Samson Uili

    Charly Thorn

    Patrick Livesey

  • Year

    2024

  • Category

    Short

  • Country

    Australia

  • Language

    English

  • Run time

    15 min

  • Company

    Wildebeest Films

  • Contact