There's a delirious level of dark comedy that thrives in the new short film DIY from director Tony Gardiner and writer Lachlan Marks. A woman, played with a disarming ease by Claire Lovering, is mourning the passing of her dog. As she drills into the wall to hang up a picture of her pup, she is surprised to find blood coming out of the hole. Heading to the other side of the wall, she finds the dead body - the first of the dilemmas she encounters. The next is Damon Herriman's organised crime cleaner. From here, DIY unfurls in a delirious level of bleak comedy that splashes the audience with acidity as we're invited to laugh along with the depths that Tony and Lachlan's characters fall into.
I caught up with Tony and Lachlan ahead of DIYs screenings at both the St Kilda Film Festival on 8 June and the Sydney Film Festival on 14 June, where the film is a finalist in the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films. In the following interview, Tony and Lachlan talk about their collaborative approach to horror-comedy filmmaking, while Tony talks about shifting from working on industry testing grounds like Neighbours and Home & Away onto projects like DIY. The two also talk about the political nature of filmmaking and how reflective and responsive the creative process can be.
DIY is an absolute treat of a short film - the kind that blitzes by in a moment, leaving you with a giddy sensation at its close after having left you gasping for breath with its ability to draw laughs out of dark situations. This is the kind of film that thrives with an audience, and no doubt those who are in attendance at either St Kilda or Sydney will love the film.
To find out more about the film, follow both Tony and Lachlan on Instagram.
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