Film Screening: The Hidden Spring (2023)

This cinematic screening is part of the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) Conference 2024. 

This is a free session, no booking required, all are welcome.

The Hidden Spring (2023)

Followed by Q&A with director Jason Di Rosso

Divided by 4000 kilometres, a son and his dying father connect in this profoundly intimate documentary debut.

In Perth, a father is on the precipice of death. In Sydney, his son picks up a camera to process his grief. Shot in the terrace home of writer/director Jason Di Rosso – best known as host of ABC Radio National’s The Screen Show – this essay film becomes a way of bridging not just physical distance but also the emotional and philosophical breach between two worldviews. Di Rosso’s father, an adherent of alternative spirituality and an architect well practised in constructing reality, believes he can heal his terminal illness himself.

After two decades of reviewing, The Hidden Spring sees one of Australia’s foremost critics return to his roots in film and television production; Di Rosso’s impressive screen literacy is evident in its beautiful cinematography, smart pacing and sophisticated cinematic language. In keeping with the essay’s wandering spirit, Di Rosso also digresses into incisive meditations on time, memory, history, family, architecture and even subjectivity itself.

DR. JASON DI ROSSO is the host of The Screen Show on ABC Radio National. He was born in Perth and worked in the local film industry in various roles. He has been a film critic since the early 2000s. In 2023 he completed a Doctorate of Creative Arts at the University of Technology Sydney, during which he made the micro budget essay film The Hidden Spring.

This screening is part of the 12th Biennial Conference of the Australasian Centre for Italian Studies (ACIS) 2024, hosted by ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics. To find out more about the conference, the screenings, and other free events, please see here.