Westgate + Filmmmaker Q&A

Name: Westgate + Filmmmaker Q&A
Genre: Drama
Released: 2026-03-26
Duration: 1 h 34 min
Cast: Sarah Nicolazzo, Max Nappo, Rosa Nix, Hannah Sims

We are thrilled to announce the screening will be accompanied by a Q&A after the feature with Adrian Ortega (director), Sarah Nicolazzo (lead actor), Max Nappo (lead actor) & Danaë Grieef (producer) Over the course of a single day, an Italian-Australian single mother in Melbourne’s working-class west must draw on all her resources as she confronts the ghosts of her past. It’s 1999, and Netta is doing her best to raise her 12-year-old son, Julian, in West Footscray. As a tough, strong-willed single mum, she has raised him to be self-sufficient while doing her best to protect him from the strains of life. But as Netta deals with financial woes, Julian’s health issues, an unreliable ex-husband and the tragedy that has cast a shadow over her life – the death of her father, killed along with many other migrant workers in the collapse of the West Gate Bridge in 1970 – she is barely able to keep her own head above water. Attempting to keep a promise she made to her son on a day when all of her pressures come to a head, Netta is left to search for new sources of strength and, at long last, face the grief she’s been running away from. In Westgate, award-winning writer/director Adrian Ortega turns his gaze to the unsung multicultural communities who have shaped the city for generations. It’s a milieu he knows well: as a first-generation Australian from an Italian/Spanish migrant family, he was, like Julian, raised by his single mother in the western suburbs. Following Cerulean Blue (2019), Ortega’s sophomore feature is anchored by rich period detail as well as a tightly framed aspect ratio that imbues the story with greater intimacy.DramaPT1H34MMA15+2026-03-26

Sarah Nicolazzo

Max Nappo

Rosa Nix

Hannah Sims

Adrian Ortega

Westgate + Filmmmaker Q&A"Westgate + Filmmmaker Q&A"

Showtimes

March 26, 6:10 pm