When tickets went on sale for Andy Burkitt and Jack Braddy's independent Australian feature film, The Organist, at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), the filmmakers managed a rare feat: they sold out their first two screenings, with a third screening quickly being scheduled. Receiving wide audience support for their world premiere is a phenomenal achievement for these emerging filmmakers.

The Organist is a darkly comedic film that speaks to the current global cost of living crisis as it follows Jack's Graeme, a budding organ-procurement businessman who sidles into the lives of struggling millennials and zoomers who have found themselves saddled with an insurmountable level of debt. His solution, or rather, the solution from the company he works for, is to alleviate these struggling souls of one of their organs, and in return their debt will be cleared. In a well rehearsed and successful spiel, Graeme outlines where the organs will go to, detailing the reduced amount of organ donations that's taking place in Australia.

Graeme's selling tactics are so strong and persuasive that he's offered a promotion, or rather, an invitation into the darker underbelly of the organisation he works for, where he discovers that the organs he procures don't actually go to needy recipients, but rather one of the wealthy cannibals who pulls the strings behind the scenes.

As Graeme falls into the web of the horrid organ donation turned cannibal operation, he encounters Riley (Luke Fisher), a morality focused person who believes he's finally equalled his ledger and seeks to end his life by way of locomotive. Seizing an opportunity to push Riley further into the 'good' side of his ledger, while also equalling up his own ledger, Graeme seeks out a needy donor recipient who can benefit from Riley's demise.

The Organist is frequently hilarious, with Jack Braddy's captivating lead turn as Graeme sways from moralistic to opportunistic as he finds himself struggling to stay afloat in a hungry organisation. He's equalled by Luke Fisher's Riley, a soul who was comfortable with the mark he left on the world, only to realise that maybe he has more to give.

What follows is a darkly hilarious game of cat and mouse that satirises and critiques the capitalistic society we all live in. This is a confident and impressive debut feature from a set of Aussie creatives who are eager to upend the notion of what Australian films can do. The Organist is a welcome treat as it gives audiences the chance to laugh at the difficult times we live in.

In the following interview, Andy and Jack talk about their interest in filmmaking, what Jack learned on the George Miller film Three Thousand Years of Longing that he was able to bring to The Organist, and about the timely presence of the film in the ever-growing cost of living crisis.

It screens at MIFF on 13, 15, and 23 of August, with the first two sessions having sold out. For more details, head over to MIFF.com.au.

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