Fragmented Feelings: Matthew Victor Pastor's 'The Neon Across the Ocean'

The first in a new trilogy of features responding to life under COVID-19, Matthew Victor Pastor's covertly shot film about a teenage girl negotiating cultural identity and her growing feelings for her tutor doubles as a document of an eerily empty Melbourne during its second lockdown. Speaking with the up-and-coming director, Nicholas Godfrey explores the film's place in his oeuvre, as well as Pastor's hopes for a new wave of younger, more diverse filmmakers.

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Philippines, Filipino-Australian identity, Manila, Lav Diaz, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Plans That They've Made, A Pencil to the Jugular, pandemic, lockdown, adulthood, coming of age, Docklands