MIFF Interview: William Jaka and Fraser Pemberton on dismantling the class system with their short film Faceless

Dogmilk Films is a collective based between Naarm-Melbourne, Makassar Indonesia, and Paris, France. Founded in 2017, Dogmilk brings alternative and ambitious films to life on screen with impactful screenings of world cinema. In addition to their screenings, Dogmilk has also expanded into filmmaking, with their searing short film Faceless being a prime example of risk-tasking Australian cinema that actively pushes boundaries and questions the status quo of this nations history.

Faceless is a piece of co-authored cinema, with co-directors William Jaka and Fraser Pemberton working alongside co-writer, producer and editor Chris C.F., cinematographer Alexandra Walton, composer Josh Peters, production designer Anna Ross, and many more all working together to critique, question, and examine the class system that lives on the Birrarung-Ga (the Yarra River).

In the film, William plays an Indigenous man through three parallel realities; in one world he's on the banks of the Birrarung-Ga, encountering a rough sleeper who reveals himself to be a war veteran. Heading up the steps into an art gallery, William takes on the role of an aspiring actor encountering a world of fellow artists utilising pain, distortion, and the recurring motif of fish, to turn anguish into art - or is it entertainment? Finally, as they head up the lift to the heights of Naarm, overlooking the city in a luxurious restaurant, William embodies the role of alpha-male stockbrokers and mining companies, lavishly devouring seafood and guzzling wine, all the while mocking his engagement with Andrew Forrest's Mindaroo mining corporation.

There's an acidity to Faceless that, once splashed on the surface of this land, exposes it for what it is: a fractured home of unresolved issues. In turn, those issues have become an unhealthy source of income or salvation.

Faceless screens as part of the Accelerator Shorts sessions at MIFF on 13 and 23 August. William received a nomination for the Uncle Jack Charles Award, in collaboration with the Kearney Group, which recognises an outstanding Australian First Nations creative whose film is screening at MIFF 2025. Visit MIFF.com.au for tickets. To find out more about Dogmilk Films, visit DogmilkFilms.com.

In the above interview, Fraser and William talk about what their co-authorship process looks like, how exploring pain on screen plays out, and what they're hoping to see from the upcoming screenings at MIFF.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.

We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New intervie

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.