Meleesha Bardolia

SYNOPSIS:

‘Match’ explores the way in which survival instincts reveal character through the parallel lives of three migrant taxi drivers in Melbourne who must look out for themselves and harden towards each other in order to survive. The film takes place during a 12-hour night shift while all the drivers are listening to the Cricket World Cup. The film revolves around Sandeep, 41, an Indian cab driver, Vusi, 28, a South African cab driver and Christos, 55, a Greek semi-retired cab driver-turned-cab boss who wields power over both migrants’ fates.

Sandeep, who is often victimized during his shifts, has recently received his citizenship and expects life to be different. Vusi, who encounters insidious forms of racism during his shifts, also wants respect. Through the passengers that both drivers pick up and their observations of life through the windows of their cabs, we get a sense of the harsh realities of the world outside.

Both characters’ acknowledgement of their similarities as migrants come to a screeching holt when Christos decides to fire his long-time employee Sandeep, who often gets victimized during his shifts, and replace him with Vusi’s brother in order to make the taxi business more profitable. Christos’s desire to advance himself financially causes him to lose sight of his difficult roots as a migrant in Australia. Vusi’s acceptance of the decision to better his family’s life causes a rift between the two friends. Sandeep’s rejection combined with his new-found sense of entitlement as a citizen makes him bitter towards Vusi, the new migrant.

'Match' explores competition among migrants and forces audiences to question whether we are a melting pot of cultures or whether we are defined by hypocrisy in our interactions with one another in order to survive.

THE SHOOT:

The shoot will take place over 5 days between the 16th July-20th July. We will be shooting on the streets of Melbourne, in a cabbie cafe, taxis and in a suburban house. 

CAST:

CHRISTOS, the Greek ex-cabbie,  will be played by Tony Nikolakopoulos.  Tony is an eminent and celebrated Australian film and television actor with roles in Head On, Wog Boy, Kangaroo Jack, The Kings of Mykonos, Underbelly, Tangle, Killing Time plus many more. 

VUSI will be played by Vuyo Loko. Vuyo is a South African born actor, who trained at Flinders University’s Drama Centre in South Australia. In 2013, Vuyo was cast in Winners and Losers and is currently on the TV comedy show Kinne.