Romulus, My Father (Restoration)

Eric Bana and Kodi Smit-McPhee star as father and son in this emotionally textured, AFI Award–winning drama based on the acclaimed memoir – now lavishly restored.

In a rundown farmhouse in 1960s country Victoria, Raimond (Smit-McPhee) lives with his father Romulus (Bana), an immigrant from Yugoslavia. His mother (Franka Potente, Run Lola Run, MIFF 1999) is weighed down by depression and mostly absent, save for the occasional visit, and she eventually leaves them for a family friend despite Romulus holding onto hope with every return. The toll of battling for daily survival amid fractured relationships, trauma and mental illness affects most of the adults around Raimond, who must learn what it takes to wade through adversity and find a way forward.

Driven by stirring performances from Bana and then-10-year-old Smit-McPhee – who each scooped AFI Awards for acting (and who both voice characters in Memoir of a Snail, MIFF 2024) – Romulus, My Father was the first film directed by theatre and screen actor Richard Roxburgh.

An adaptation of philosopher Raimond Gaita’s eponymous memoir, the project attracted an esteemed team including producer Robert Connolly (The Magic Beach, MIFF 2024; Paper Planes, MIFF 2014) and cinematographer Geoffrey Simpson (Oscar and Lucinda; Shine, MIFF 1996), and went on to win the 2007 AFI Award for Best Film. It’s quietly stirring and ends, as the real-life Raimond puts it, “rightly, in the key of hope”. “A work of melancholic beauty … [and] a beacon of sensitive filmmaking.” – Hollywood Reporter (2007)