Of An Age: A Melbournian Queer Romance To Hit Theatres In March

The queer Australian film Of An Age, from the talented Australian-Macedonian director Goran Stolevski, is set to hit theatres in March this year.

The film received positive reviews and opened the Melbourne International Film Festival 2022.

Of An Age is set in 1999 and follows the quick but intense 24-hour romance between the 17-year-old Serbian-born Nikola (Elias Anton) and his friend Ebony’s (Hattie Hook) older brother, Adam (Thom Green).

After waking up in an unfamiliar town far from home and hung over, Ebony calls Nikola for help, who in turn enlists help from Adam who has a car.

The pair set off together for the first time and drive across Melbourne’s suburbs, as a mutual spark ignites between them. However, the potential of a relationship is snuffed out as Adam is leaving for a trip to South America in 24 hours.

Years later though, through possible machinations of fate, the pair reunite at Ebony’s wedding.

Glowing Reviews And Success

The film saw success at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2022, even scoring the major CinefestOZ Film Prize. Critics call it a “rare gem” as it doesn’t succumb to the cringe humor or fall victim to soap-opera clichés.

Writer-director Stolevski admitted that the film was originally a writing exercise during the Covid-19 lockdown. However, the project later evolved into a fully-fledged screenplay with inspiration from his own memories of the era and location.

“It’s not specifically an autobiographical script, because the events in the film didn’t happen to me,” Goran Stolevski said, as reported by ScreenHub.

“But it is very much based on my mindset at the time, especially when it comes to love, relationships and friendships.”

“I also liked the idea of making a romance in the least-romantic place in the world, which for me is suburban Melbourne in 1999.”