Bored of Elf? Tired of watching Home Alone 2 for the 15th time? There’s a new Australian Christmas film on the way, and it stars none other than Middle Kids singer Hannah Joy.
Christmess is written and directed by ACCTA-nominated filmmaker Heath Davis (Book Week, Locusts, Broke), and the film marks the big screen acting debut of Joy. The multi-hyphenate stars alongside comic actor Darren Gilshenan and Steve Le Marquand in the festive film.
Le Marquand plays Chris, a washed-up Logie-winning actor battling post-rehab life. To make ends meet, he takes a job as a suburban strip mall Santa Claus, where he soon encounters his long estranged daughter. Aided by his sponsor Nick (Gilshenan) and Joy (Joy), a musician in recovery, he tries to stay sober in order to win his daughter’s forgiveness in time for Christmas.
You can watch the trailer for Christmess below. Following its world premiere at the prestigious Austin Film Festival later this month, the film will then debut in select cinemas across Australia on November 30th.
It’s one fans of Middle Kids should find interesting. Joy penned several original songs Christmess, including “Empty Chair”, “Deadbeat Dads”, and “Boxing Day”, and she performs all three in character in the film. Christmess also features Joy singing a stunning version of the timeless festive classic, “O, Holy Night”.
While Joy has been preparing for her exciting big screen debut, her band have kept releasing music this year. They released “Highlands”, in July, a song that paid tribute to Joy’s Scottish background.
“Since I was young, I’ve had this yearning to be free,” she explained at the time. “I used an image of the ‘highlands’ as a euphoric place where I have the space to be me, and you have the space to be you.
“Part of the imagery comes from my Scottish heritage, which my grandmother was always proud of. I recorded some big slow piano chords which Tim [Fitz] mangled into the atmospheric hits in the intro.”
“Highlands” followed Middle Kids’ first single of 2023, “Bootleg “Firecracker”. The band last released an album in 2021, when Today We’re the Greatest won Best Rock Album at the 2021 ARIA Awards.
