Canberra short film Love Forever is the only Australian work to be included in this year’s Venice International Film Festival which runs from 31 August to 10 September. Written and directed by Clare Young, the film will debut as part of the Orizzonti Short Film Competition.

Young was a recipient of mentorship funding through ArtsACT in 2012 which saw her shadow Jane Campion through the development, writing, and production of the first season of Top of the Lake. The mentorship also saw her write her own work to be produced.

“To have someone like Jane support you, believe in you and encourage you to find your own process was incredibly inspiring and amazing,” Young said. 

Inspired by Young’s own experience growing up in Canberra, the film follows Emily as she falls in love for the first time with a boy from Sydney’s Northern Beaches. Young laughed as she admitted there was definitely a boy from the Northern Beaches, but said her short film is more a coming-of-age story that shatters the illusion of love transforming you. Emily, through her journey of first love, really finds herself.

According to Young, script writing was never her strong suit, and the film has been written as a series of impressions in the voice of the main character. She and her producer went to Canberra high schools to find their Emily. After meeting around 80 girls, they found Hannah McKenzie and were blown away.

“She had emotional expansiveness, and she was really smart, and I loved that combination. Also, I just really loved her as a human and I thought I just really want her to be a part of this process with me,” Young said.

The film was shot back in 2014 when McKenzie was in her final year of school, while Young was pregnant with her first child during preproduction. By the time the film was in post-production, Young’s daughter was born. Feeling vulnerable, under pressure from high expectations, and worried about doing the right thing, Young listened to the people around her and ended up unhappy with the film.

After it had sat in the bottom drawer of her studio for years, Young decided it was time to recut the film and rediscover the things she loved about it. Her plan was to give something to McKenzie that she could use to find an agent and free herself to move on to her next long-form project.

With encouragement from her mentor Jane Camion to have the film ready for the Venice festival, Young completed the work just two days before the deadline.  

“I was so unhappy with the film that we finished that I edited it and that to me was where the real learning happened. I was so lucky that I had Jane’s support because she was like ‘yes, Clare do it your own way’,” Young said.

McKenzie is yet to see the final cut; she and Young decided she should wait to see it along with everyone else in Venice. She has been involved in the re-editing process, joining Young to record voiceovers and the soundtrack. McKenzie didn’t have the same negative feelings about the original cut.

“I loved it, I mean there were bits that I didn’t understand at the time. I think that I felt the same in certain bits, to me the heart of the film has always been there,” she said.

Young said it was during these re-recordings with McKenzie that she was able to rediscover the film’s voice. She no longer felt the need to impress people who had more experience and was ready to create a film she wouldn’t feel ashamed to show people.

“From that point, I was just like I’m going to protect what I love in the film and I’m only going to work with people who are going to protect that as well,” Young said.

Both women have since moved away from Canberra, however, they say it is a real Canberra story. Filmed on location here and in the Northern Beaches using Canberra-based extras, they say the film is about the common experience of young women from Canberra, told by Canberra people.  

“It’s about a young woman being able to show sensitivity and strength, being able to find herself. Being a teenager is so horrible, you’re sorting through so many different personas, thoughts, and people, “McKenzie said.

She is hoping she will be able to connect with people from the film industry while they are in Venice, and wants to find management and new projects. She is also working on writing her own work which she hopes to direct.

Once she returns from Italy, Young, feeling refreshed and with a strong sense of self, is now ready to continue with her next piece, Unruly Girls. She has already interviewed women around the country about their experiences at the Parramatta Girls Home in 1961.

“I’m really excited to go back to that project with the affirmation that I need to trust my own process and choose people to support me, who will help me protect the vision in a way where it maintains its artistic strength, its core strength. Because you, as a storyteller, it’s partly your story as well and if you’re carrying the authority of the strength, your characters will have that,” Young said.

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