Caroline Kemp

Sample People is an upbeat dramatic thriller that follows four groups of Sydney-siders as they seek escape routes over one sweltering weekend. 'Len the dreamer' who stutters shyly just wants the gorgeous DJ Lush Puppy. Sem is a funky musician who has a premonition warning him that his girlfriend, Cleo, is in danger. He just wants to get them both out of their inner-city world. Andy is the charismatic drifter who's conned his way through life and stolen money from his boss, TT. He just wants to head up the coast with TT's girlfriend, Jess, but seems to be falling deeper into a love triangle of drugs and delusion. Finally, there's Joey, a TV affected homeboy, who reveals to his best friend Gus that he's got a gun and will use it sooner or later. The inevitable moment will arrive whin his violent gangster fantisies become reality. As the lives of our heroes become dramatically entwined, the consequences of their actions ricochet off each other.

Set in the summer of 1910 in Australia the film follows the story of 14 year old Alan Marshall (Alexander Outhread) as he stumbles out of childhood towards the exciting yet forbidding world of adulthood. For Alan, despite the effects of polio, there is only one passion in life - to become a great horseman just like his hero, the reclusive horse trainer East Driscoll (Russell Crowe). Alan is one of East's few friends and also one of the few who knows about the affair between East and the aristocratic English woman Grace McAlister (Charlotte Rampling). Things inevitably take a turn towards the tragic when East becomes determined to force Grace to leave her husband and run away with him. Hammers Over The Anvil is an evocative coming of age film from Australian director Ann Turner.