Chelsea Lupkin
It’s easy to overlook hardship when it doesn’t affect you personally, but seeing through the eyes of someone who’s living it makes that reality tangible. To be human is to empathize and Arthur Gay’s Sunshine City is just as much a singular piece of storytelling as it is an immersive experience. Offering a perspective seldom seen by those who do not live it, Gay’s fly-on-the-wall approach, compelling character study, and personal connection make this film an incredibly moving watch.
Living out of their car, siblings Stellar and Max struggle to get back on their feet. But when Max puts their livelihood on the line, Stellar is forced to confront the possibility that she might not be able to support him much longer. Faced with an impossible choice, she must decide what’s more important: keeping their family together or facing the world alone.
“I was interested in the dynamic between them, like a rubber band”
“Moving around a lot, like, a lot, with my mother when I was young had a big influence on the kinds of characters I seem to be interested in. I tend to gravitate towards transient characters, often on the road, who may be searching for belonging and reliant on their family for survival. With this film, I was particularly interested in exploring the relationship between two siblings who, above all else, relied on each other for survival,” explains filmmaker Gay as we discuss the origins of his story.
Taking place over the course of little more than twenty-four hours, Gay captures what feels like a hundred little vignettes, each carrying its own emotional weight. From the opening shot of washing in a public restroom to scenes of waking in the backseat of a car, we watch both Stellar (Amrita Newton) and Max (Garrett Silvey) experience wildly different responses to their reality. Where Stellar has assumed an almost parental role, trying her best to provide, Max is just a teenage boy who feels things in the extreme, lashing out when he knows he can’t afford to. “I was interested in the dynamic between them, like a rubber band,” Gay reveals. “You can see how close they are to each other, the history they share, and yet their circumstances also push them apart. It’s a constant back and forth between them.”
Amrita Newton stars as Stellar in Sunshine City
Already at odds with each other, Max’s impulsive choices unbalances their fragile existence, pushing an already unstable situation to the brink. As a viewer, it’s hard not to be rattled by what unfolds, knowing just how high the stakes are. “As a child, moving countries with my mother, I saw it as if we were a team against the world, just me and her,” Gay shares. “I wanted to explore that idea in this film: it’s them against the world.”
The craft behind Sunshine City is impressive, with its intentional framing revealing subtle layers of context throughout the film. Take, for instance, a scene viewed from inside a gas station as Stellar encounters an old acquaintance – a situation that should prompt a simple greeting. While we never hear what’s spoken through the glass, Gay, with the help of cinematographer Cory Fraiman-Lott (Homesick, Bandito), uses a close up on Stellar as she reacts in the aftermath. What’s written on actress Newton’s face is a multitude of emotions, including shame and disappointment. It’s these scenes that make Sunshine City a stand out short and a lesson in how to show and not tell on screen.
Uncertainty can be scary, and Sunshine City captures that feeling with raw honesty – exploring frustration, love, shame, desperation, and anger along the way. All of this is distilled in a final, poetic shot that speaks volumes without a single word. After a strong festival run, Gay went on to complete another short, When the Geese Flew, and is now developing his debut feature, When the Goats Came. The film follows a young teenager, Cyrus, and his adoptive mother, Flora, as they return to their hometown in New Zealand in search of Cyrus’s long-lost father. We can’t wait to see it!