Award-winning Australian director Clayton Jacobson’s new feature film Brothers’ Nest, a dark and disturbingly comic take on the family ties that bind or are torn apart, will have its world premiere next month at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX.
The Festival runs from March 9-17, with Brothers’ Nest scheduled for four screenings in the high profile Narrative Spotlight section. Each screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Clayton and producer Jason Byrne.
Clayton also co-stars in the film alongside his brother, Shane Jacobson, one of Australia’s busiest and most celebrated actors and entertainers. The two first worked together in the breakthrough box office sensation Kenny, which had its US premiere at SXSW in 2007, with Shane starring, Clayton directing and acting, and both were writers and producers on the film.
But where Kenny was a riotous comedy, Brothers’ Nest has a much more sinister and multi-layered plot and is certain to challenge perceptions of the Jacobson brothers’ earlier work.
“Both are very different films but strangely similar in their themes of family dysfunction,” says Clayton. “It’s about family hierarchy and how our perceptions of that hierarchy can lead to life-long sibling rivalry. The soup of life is never more salted than when dealing with family and the film places this fact front and center and over a burner.”
The tone of Brothers’ Nest is a subtle balance of thriller meets dark humor. “We want audiences to walk away a little shaken by the comic madness and horror of what has unfolded.”
On a cold morning in the middle of country Victoria, two brothers arrive at the family home intent on murdering their stepfather Roger. Terry and Jeff’s motive is simple – killing their step-dad will render their dying mother’s plan to change her will in his favor redundant. A staged “suicide” has been meticulously planned but there is one thing the boys didn’t take into account – spending an entire day together. Old grudges, different worldviews and a general troubled history will pit these two brothers against each other. Brothers’ Nest is a tragic comedy about family, loyalty and murder – because after all “blood is thicker than water”.
Clayton is an award-winning director/producer/writer also well known as an actor with roles in films as diverse as Kenny, Animal Kingdom, the upcoming Blumhouse Productions release Upgrade (also screening at this year’s SXSW Film Festival), and the major television series, Jane Campion’s Top Of The Lake: China Girl. It was Campion, in fact, who gave Clayton the confidence to both direct and star in Brothers’ Nest. He also cites the Coen Brothers as major influences and their films such as No Country For Old Men and Fargo as reference points for him in making Brothers’ Nest.
Since Kenny opened the door on Shane’s film career, earning him the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actor in 2006, his international credits have included The Bourne Legacy and A Few Less Men as well as Australian films including Cactus alongside Bryan Brown, and Charlie & Boots with Paul Hogan, The Dressmaker with Kate Winslet and Judy Davis, and the upcoming comedy The BBQ. Shane is one of Australia’s most successful stage and television personalities as an actor, singer and presenter, and he is a best-selling author.
Brothers’ Nest puts Clayton and Shane’s distinctive chemistry back on screen in a tight two-hander, with a small and crucial supporting cast featuring renowned Australian actors Kim Gyngell (The Little Death, Top Of The Lake), Lynette Curran (Somersault, The Boys) and Sarah Snook (The Glass Castle, Steve Jobs, Black Mirror). The script is by Jaime Browne ( The King, The Straits, The Mule), producer is Jason Byrne (Rats And Cats, One Perfect Day, Sucker) and executive producers are Julia Adams, Tait Brady, Deb Fryers and Shane Jacobson.
Brothers’ Nest is presented by Screen Australia, Jason Byrne Productions and Bison Films in association with Film Victoria and Label Distribution. It is scheduled for theatrical release in Australia in May 2018, with US release dates to follow.
Brothers’ Nest screens at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival on these dates:
Sunday, March 11 at 9:00 PM – Alamo Ritz 1 (World Premiere)
Tuesday, March 13 at 2:45 PM – Alamo Lamar E
Wednesday, March 14 at 3:45 AM – Rollins Theatre at The Long Center
Thursday, March 15 at 4:15pm – ZACH Theatre
