The Big Wait
2024 · 14m · Australia
Directed by Yannick Jamey
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender, whimsical
In a remote desert town in Australia's Nullarbor Plains with a population of two, a couple manages an emergency airport and keeps vacant cottages in pristine condition, waiting for visitors who almost never arrive.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Two people in the Nullarbor mowing a runway for nobody — this is the documentary subject that does itself. Featured on Roger Ebert means the framing won't surprise me, but the premise alone could carry it.
Jamey's Nullarbor portrait belongs in the lineage of Reichardt's contemplative observation and Sharon Lockhart's still-life ethnography, with Ernst Reijseger's score adding considerable weight. Roger Ebert and SOTW endorsements confirm the form.
Featured on Short of the Week AND Roger Ebert for a 14:35 doc, with Ernst Reijseger scoring — that's a heavyweight composer for a town of two, and his strings are exactly what turns lawn-mowing into Sisyphean ritual rather than just observation. The two-person crew (Jamey and Pijnenburg) matches the subject matter perfectly.
Reviews
A charming documentary that depicts a couple who run an emergency airport in the middle of nowhere in Forrest, Australia, maintaining a street of cottages in case a plane makes an emergency landing and people end up stranded.
What started out as a slice-of-life style documentary had unexpectedly taken on a more metaphorical quality — like Adam and Eve in the desert, performing Sisyphean tasks while waiting for Godot.
Festivals
- SXSW Film Festival 2024
- Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2024
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2024
- DC/DOX 2024