The Party Job
2022 · 15m · Australia
Directed by Raechelle Banno
Genres: comedy, dark comedy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, tense
A videographer arrives at what she's been told is a standard child's birthday party, but as she meets the oddly intense parents — and notices no other children in sight — her anxiety mounts toward the absurd reason she was really hired.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Banno takes the suffocating banality of a gig-economy mishap and yanks it sideways into genuine dread—the premise *looks* like a tired indie trope until it isn't, and watching it curdle is exactly the kind of "wait, where is this actually going?" subversion that makes the tired stuff worth watching.
A tightly constructed anxiety engine that understands the grammar of situational comedy and knows exactly when to abandon it; the tonal pivot is precise and earned, placing Banno in conversation with the sharp genre-play of contemporary British comedy-horror.
The entire film hinges on Banno's decision to play the videographer's confusion as *genuine*, mounting unease rather than performative panic—that choice to let the actor's real discomfort be the emotional core transforms what could've been a gimmick into something genuinely unsettling.
Festivals
- Canberra Short Film Festival 2022, Emerging Talent Award
- Paris Independent Film Festival 2022