Cross Life Feature Film
C.J.Strickland was principal writer of the low budget feature film, Cross Life, selected for the Sydney Film Festival, New York Independent Film Festival and Pusan International Film Festival (Korea).
Part financed by the Australian Film Commission, Cross Life is set in Sydney’s gritty Kings Cross and explores a handful of diverse and sometimes desperate lives in the days before Christmas. Many of the tales in this interwoven multi-narrative were first developed by C.J.Strickland prior to Cross Life coming into being.
The Development of Cross Life
A keen observer during his years living in ‘The Cross’, Strickland’s writer role on Cross Life gave him the opportunity to feature his short film script Still Life (previously shortlisted for Film Victoria production funding). This retelling of the birth of Jesus, recasting Mary and Joseph as homeless fringe dwellers came to form the central narrative and climax to Cross Life.
However, it was developing his multi-narrative feature screenplay Time & Place which provided many story elements that finally made up Cross Life. Also set in Kings Cross, Time and Place yielded the story of Trace: a young woman betrayed into potential homelessless and pushed into selling the only thing she has left.
Likewise, the story of troubled teens Donald and Kane was initially penned for this script – featuring the pair on a rampage through The Cross; a smashing spree sparked by the breaking of a cherished promise and climaxing in an ill-fated attack.
Developed as a feature script for his MA in Creative Writing at Sydney’s University of Technology, Time and Place dovetailed stories of love, secrets, betrayal and bastardry set in Kings Cross — the screenplay honed under the mentorship of acclaimed alternative screenwriting guru, Linda Aronson.
After developing Time and Place into interwoven stories featuring good and bad luck as a notable driver, art mirrored life when C.J.Strickland answered a Screen Hub advertisement. It was for the film Cross Life, with first time feature director Claire McCarthy (fresh from a documentary background). And she needed a writer.
Cross Life is distributed by Ronin Films.
