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Dystopian short film Cough will have its Australian premiere at the 14th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Cough is a natural fit with the theme that emerged this year: a question of authority

Writer/Director Jason Kempnich is extremely pleased to have a screening in his home country so early in the film's festival season.

"There aren't a lot of established festivals still around in Australia," Kempnich said, "You could count them on two hands. So you have thousands of local and international films fighting over a couple of hours of screening slots. Festivals of course want the best films for their niches, so they not only choose what works well on screen, but what will also complement the rest of their programming for this year. It's quite possible that excellent Australian shorts will not get seen in Australia.

"It turns out we were a perfect fit for Melbourne Underground this year. Once the festival looked at their possible line-up, the 'question of authority' theme emerged, and that is exactly what Cough is all about. We ask: what if the government took advantage of a real situation to claw back control from the people? Would it be obvious? It has a direct parallel with today's anti-terrorism laws."

Kempnich will attend the screening in person. "I expect more than 95% of our screenings will be overseas. I can't miss seeing Cough play to an unsuspecting audience"!

More information on the September 2013 Cough screening at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival can be found at the Melbourne Underground entry on our screening tracker.

Cough stars Robert Coleby (Tracks, Terra Nova, The Marine) and Christopher Sommers (Predestination, Terra Nova, The Horseman), with Natalie Trent and Dan Eady. Written and directed by Jason Kempnich, it features moody cinematography by Graeme McMahon and evocative music by Davin Patterson.

Set a few years from today, Cough explores a dystopian future where a pandemic has forced governments worldwide to heavily curtail the movements of citizens for their own survival. In the rush to survive, civil liberties are forgotten. The film asks the question - how far is too far? What if government wanted to keep their new power? Sometimes you have to fight to hold on to your civil liberties.

Please refer to the Cough website for all information on the film, including all upcoming screenings, access to the film's trailer and other digital media, and contacts.

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