Australian film director gets back to his roots

The special guest will kick off two weekends of Australian films, shorts and documentaries, as well as the encompassing Dubbo Festival, when he presents his first homegrown film since Muriel's Wedding.

"I'm looking forward to it, I know Dubbo's into its movies, I'm just wondering if anyone will show up," he said.

With Mental closing the Melbourne International Film Festival to a standing ovation, he should not be too worried.

The film, also his first collaboration with star Toni Collette since their careers took off with Muriel, was a chance for Hogan to return to his roots.

In the fictional Dolphin Heads, five children are looked after by hitchhiker nanny Shaz (Collette) after their mother Shirley (Rebecca Gibney) is committed to a mental institution and politician father Barry (Anthony LaPaglia) is at a loss as a parent.

Based on a childhood event during his upbringing in Coolangatta, the origins of Shaz is something Hogan had first divulged to Collette 17 years before.

"This story started with my mum having a breakdown when I was 12 that I didn't know about, we accepted the story that she was on holiday in Wollongong," he said.

"We came home to find this woman sitting on a couch, rolling a cigarette - which I don't think was tobacco - with a hunting knife in her boot and her dog.

"I was talking to her (Collette) about this person on Muriel's Wedding, and she said I had to put this woman in a movie."

Hogan believed Collette "captured her to a tee".

"I watch the movie and I'm transported back to when I was 12 and meeting her," he said.

The film also follows Muriel with its use of popular culture, here heavily utilising the Rodger and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music.

Songs from that film resonated with Hogan through family circumstance in much the same way as Abba did in his breakthrough feature.

"My mother loved it even more than I did, she cried when Mr Von Trapp came out with his guitar and sang Edelweiss... it's about a family coming together," he said.

"When you're working on your own material it's impossible to separate those memories from popular culture."

Although Hogan admitted to Anthony LaPaglia torturing Edelweiss, the journey home had been a good one.

"I just wanted to tell another Australian story, we deserve our own stories portrayed irreverently and comprehensively in all their glory," he said.

The NSW premiere of Mental screens tonight at the Dubbo Festival and Inland NSW Film Festival's Gala Opening Night, at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre from 6pm.

katina.vangopolous@ruralpress.com