Elena Mandalis is an Australian actress and acting coach best known for her television roles as Sarah Tomic in Raw FM (1997-1998), as Jett in Thunderstone (1999) and as Anna Vargas in Rush, in 2011.
Melbourne. 1999. Christmas time! In this darkly comic thriller, a career-crazed journalist dredges up the sordid secrets of an infamous socialite after her mysterious disappearance.
James has served time for drowning a little boy when he was a child, although the body was never found in the river. A visit from his victim's mother upon parole sends him on a quest to find the truth. With little time and danger at every turn, James risks his freedom and his life to uncover the trail of sins that might give closure to the grieving mother.
In a Sydney suburb, two nurses, Maria and Flora, a housekeeper, Lotte, and a solicitor, Arnold, attend to Elizabeth Hunter as her expatriate son Sir Basil, a famous but struggling actor in London, and daughter Dorothy, a divorced and down at heel princess, convene at her deathbed. They come to make sure they can leave Australia with their hefty inheritance.
Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.
Alex is in love with her best friend, Vicki, her mother has dissapeared and she sets fire to things in her spare time. Vicki comes from an abusive home and wants Alex to run away with her. Alex is a bit of a nerd and a teachers pet, so takes advantage of this by trying to seduce her drippy school teacher. Alex watches as Vicki, unable to escape her terrible homelife and an psychological wreck, sets alight to herself and burns to death.
