The festival returns from 18-29 October with South Australian directorial debuts alongside a Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner. We give you the rundown of some of the festival’s highly anticipated flicks.

Speedway

Speedway is a true crime documentary, and the feature debut from writer/directors Luke Rynderman and Adam Kamien.

Filmed across five years in the United States and Australia, the doco pursues the truth behind the unsolved quadruple ‘Burger Chef’ murders.

The murders took place in 1978 in the small town of Speedway, Indiana.

Four young employees of a Burger Chef restaurant went missing at the end of a Friday night shift and by the time their bodies were found on Sunday, the crime scene had been cleaned and reopened – business as usual.

Rynderman and Kamien were taken by this baffling unsolved case and spent years interviewing, researching, and investigating it.

Speedway shows the various theories and facts of the case through re-enactments and tense witness interviews.

It unravels mishandled evidence and wild revelations along the way. 

Produced in SA by Bonnie McBride, Anna Vincent, Louise Nathanson and Lisa Scott, Speedway received production funding from the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund.

Kesting says the support for Rynderman and Kamien’s exceptional debut film “continues to demonstrate the festival’s commitment to celebrating new cinematic voices and for being a hotbed of new and exciting talent.”

“Speedway is a gripping true crime docu-drama that will have you guessing until the end,” Kesting says.

You’ll Never Find Me

You’ll Never Find Me is the first feature film by Adelaide directing duo Indianna Bell and Josiah Allen.

After premieres at Tribeca Festival in New York and Melbourne International Film Festival, the pair are bringing it home.

Written by Bell, You’ll Never Find Me stars South Australian actor Brendan Rock as Patrick, a strange resident of a mobile home in an isolated caravan park.

During a violent thunderstorm, a mysterious young woman (played by SA’s Jordan Cowan – also producing the film) appears at Patrick’s door seeking shelter.

Unnatural incidences begin throughout the night, making the paranoid Patrick even more uneasy.

The longer the night goes on, the more the woman discovers about Patrick and finds it harder to leave.

This horror film was born out of the directing duo’s desire to make a low-budget feature, set in one location with two characters.

Bell says having that restraint helped spark creativity and being set in the caravan park built natural tension.

“It’s this claustrophobic setting that really contributes to a growing feeling of unease and entrapment,” Bell says.

While the script posed a challenge for filming, Allen says it was one that cinematographer Maxx Corkindale was up for.

They used the space in interesting ways to make the audience uneasy by always having something visually slightly ‘off’.

Bell says the soundscape adds to the insecurity, with sound designer Duncan Campbell creating suspense as the storm crashes through scenes, making the trailer creak and moan.

All these thrilling elements come together, with early reviews saying You’ll Never Find Me is a total nail-biter.

Find out more at adelaidefilmfestival.org.