Island (1989 film)
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| Island | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Paul Cox |
| Written by | Paul Cox |
| Produced by | Paul Cox Santhana Naidu |
| Starring | Irene Papas Eve Sitta Anoja Weerasinghe Chris Haywood |
Production company | Illumination Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Languages | English Greek |
| Budget | A$2 million[2] |
| Box office | A$114,764 (Australia)[3] |
Island is a 1989 Australian film directed by Paul Cox starring Irene Papas as Marquise.[4]
It is not to be confused with the 1975 short film of the same title also made by Cox.
Three women meet on a Greek island: Eva, a Czech born Australian with a drug addiction; Sahana, a Sri Lankan abandoned by her political activist husband; and Marquisa, an older Greek. All are exiles. A Frenchman arrives on the island and gives drugs to Eva. Janis, a deaf mute who is friends with all three women, discover what the Frenchman is up to and has him expelled. When he returns, Janis accidentally kills him and the three women help hide the body. Sahana hears that her husband is killed and decides to leave the island. [5]
Cast
- Irene Papas as Marquise
- Chris Haywood as Janis
- Eva Sitta as Eva
- Anoja Weerasinghe as Sahana
- Norman Kaye as Henry
- François Bernard
Production
The film was shot on Astypalaia, a Greek island in the Agean Sea, in 1988 over ten weeks. It was based on an island Cox visited eighteen years earlier.[6]
The shoot was plagued with money shortages, making it extremely difficult.[7] Irene Papas said "I felt a lot of freedom on this film. It was a very fast shoot but if you know what you are doing, like Paul, it's nice to do it fast and well."[8]
Finance came from Film Victoria.
Cox had a long affinity with Greece:
The first time I went to Greece I realised I had been homesick and I never knew where it was for.... There was no home here; I was always drifting between places. When I got to Greece the first time and met these people... a Greek is a Greek and every day is the first and last day of their lives, as has been said, 'Wherever I travel, Greece wounds me'. There's incredible belonging and I envy that very much. I love Greece for that.[9]
