Stepping into the ring with Kid Snow director Paul Goldman

Revelation Perth International Film Festival returns in 2024, featuring a diverse array of over 30 feature films, documentaries, and more than 80 short films showing from Wednesday, July 3, to Sunday, July 14. Opening the festival this year is Kid Snow, a WA-made feature film set in a 1970s sweat-drenched world of tent boxing in outback Western Australia. Ahead of the film’s WA premiere at Luna Cinemas Leederville on Wednesday, July 3, BRETT LEIGH DICKS caught up with director Paul Goldman to find out how the film shines a light on an intriguing chapter of Australia’s history.

Tent boxing has long been an intriguing part of Australian folklore. Boxing troupes would follow fairs and carnivals around the country, raising their big tops in outback towns and mining camps where audacious locals would throw down cash for the chance to show their boxing prowess against the professionals. Steeped in tradition and populated by characters larger than life, it’s an aspect of Australian culture that’s long been ripe for cinematic picking.

When a script about a washed-up Irish tent boxer fighting to break free from the cycle of loss and regret fell into the lap of director Paul Goldman several years ago, the filmmaker immediately recognised the story’s potential. And with the resulting film, Kid Snow, now doing the rounds of national film festivals and about to screen in Perth, the outcome is a cinematic journey as epic in its conveyance as it is in its story.

“It was always my intention to make a film that was epic in terms of the settings—that sweeping landscape—and also in terms of the theme,” Goldman revealed from his home in Melbourne. “When the project landed on my desk many years ago, I was attracted to the world of tent boxing and very attracted to the characters and story arc. But even though I love the genre, I didn’t want to make a boxing film. I wanted to use boxing as a backdrop to a story about sibling rivalry, toxic relationships, and romance and embody all of those things in an epic way.”

Having recently had its world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival, Kid Snow is now coming to Perth, where, on Wednesday, July 3, it will open the Revelation Perth International Film Festival prior to its national cinematic release on September 12. Set in outback Western Australia during the 1970s and directed by Goldman, the film stars UK actors Billy Howle and Tom Bateman alongside Phoebe Tonkin and an ensemble cast of Western Australians, including Tasma Walton, Mark Coles Smith and Shaka Cook.

“I was always determined to create an ensemble cast, and the cast on Kid Snow bonded in a very special way,” Goldman explained. “We landed in Western Australia just after the borders had opened, and we had many, many dramas with the cast and crew getting COVID. That was initially difficult for us because we were out in Kalgoorlie, and it interfered with what we were doing, but that adversity meant that the cast and crew bonded in a way I don’t think it might have otherwise.”

The camaraderie fostered among the cast during the film’s production clearly plays out on screen. With a script that offers no shortage of emotive substance, one of the highlights of Kid Snow is the collective performances from its cast. Billy Howle plays boxer Kid Snow, while Tom Bateman portrays his brother and troupe leader Rory. The two British actors foster a sibling dynamic that’s at times as unnerving as it is revealing. Phoebe Tonkin plays Sunny, whose exploits see her (and her son Darcy, played by Jake LaTorre) joining the travelling troupe as a dancer.

Recently lauded for her performance in Man Swallows Universe, Tonkin filmed Kid Snow prior to commencing work on the Netflix-released mini-series, and Goldman is the first to extol her astonishing performance in the film.

“Phoebe Tonkin was remarkable,” affirmed Goldman. “She is a young actress who wanted to challenge herself and was stuck out in the Kalgoorlie and the Goldfields with a bunch of guys as essentially the only female on screen. The role asked a lot of her, and

the strength and determination she showed were remarkable. I don’t want to sound patronising, but I think it’s a groundbreaking piece of work for her. I think her performance is incredible.”

The quartet is deftly supported by the likes of Hunter Page-Lochard (Lizard), Mark Coles Smith (Lovely), Shaka Cook (Armless), Tasma Walton (Betty), and Robert Taylor (Ed). With the film set in the outback during the 1970s and boasting an outstanding indigenous cast, the social climate of the period was an obvious consideration when the film entered production.

“It was something we were very conscious of, and the entire time we were developing the script, we discussed how we were going to address that without it hijacking the film,” Goldman explained. “It was an important discussion to have with the indigenous cast because the film is set in a period when there was enormous racism, and they were very vocal about what we should and shouldn’t do.

“The stories of the exploitation of indigenous boxers were stories we inevitably heard, but it was also interesting to hear directly from indigenous tent boxers on how it afforded them the opportunity to travel at a time when there were very severe travel restrictions on indigenous people. And, to everyone’s amusement, these guys would also jokingly tell us how enjoyable it was punching out white fellas.”

To reinforce the drama encapsulated within the script, the right setting for Kid Snow was always going to be essential to bring the story to life, and, despite travelling boxing troupes roaming all corners of the country, Goldman turned to Western Australia. Locations such as Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Fremantle, and even Kwinana feature prominently within the film, with the expansive Western Australian landscape taking on the role of a character in and of itself.

“One of the things that attracted me to the project when I first read the script was its sense of landscape,” Goldman said. “Clayton Jauncey, the film’s production designer, and I went out to Kalgoorlie many times while developing the project, and I kept thinking the landscape would somehow become a character in itself. I really love how the film travels through the landscape, and while it has those sweeping Western Australian landscapes, it is also very claustrophobic at times where everything closes in on you. From that aspect, the landscape was always going to be a character in the film.”