Of an Age, which takes place over the course of two 24-hour periods set 11 years apart, is like “Before Sunrise” and “Before Sunset” combined into one film, in which two characters are rocked by a chance encounter and reckon with it years later. The 1999 scene opens with a gasp, and proceeds at a breathlessly frantic pace, as Ebony (Hattie Hook) wakes up out of a blackout on a strange beach and calls Kol in a panic to come and pick her up — they’ve got to make it to their ballroom dance finals in time.
Of an Age is a 2022 Australian romantic drama film written and directed by Goran Stolevski. The film stars Elias Anton as Kol, a Serbian immigrant in Australia who enters a brief but intense romance with Adam (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook).
The film premiered on 4 August 2022 at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It was subsequently screened at CinefestOZ, where it was the winner of the Best Film Award. Of an Age was released in the United States by Focus Features on 17 February 2023, and later in Australia by Roadshow Films on 23 March 2023.
In 2022, Macedonian Australian filmmaker Goran Stolevski established himself as a talent to watch with his daring directorial debut, the folk horror film “You Won’t Be Alone,” about a witch body-jumping through a Macedonian village, experiencing the vast spectrum of love and cruelty life has to offer.
His sophomore feature, “Of an Age,” is quite different — a high school coming-of-age story set in 1999 and 2010, about a Serbian immigrant teenager, Kol (Elias Anton) growing up in Melbourne, coming to terms with his sexuality and experiencing first love. Despite the genre contrast, there’s a commonality between the two films in the way Stolevski captures the aching beauty snatched in life’s darker moments — the heart of the matter remains the same, the bittersweet tone just as poignant.
Of an Age (2023)
Directed by: Goran Stolevski
Starring: Elias Anton, Thom Green, Hattie Hook, Senuri Chandrani, Toby Derrick, Grace Graznak, Jessica Lu, Jack Kenny, Kasuni Imbulana, Verity Higgins, Milijana Cancar
Screenplay by: Goran Stolevski
Production Design by: Bethany Ryan
Cinematography by: Matthew Chuang
Film Editing by: Goran Stolevski
Costume Design by: Zohie Castellano
Set Decoration by: Quinn Delany-Veldhuis
Art Direction by: Mandi Bialek-Wester
MPAA Rating: R for language throughout, sexual content and some drug use.
Distributed by: Roadshow Films, Focus Features
Release Date: February 17, 2023 (United States), March 23, 2023 (Australia)
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