Aspiring actors and filmmakers at Charles Sturt University (CSU) were inspired and motivated when the new Australian movie StalkHer had a special screening in Wagga Wagga recently.

Associate Head of the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries and senior lecturer in art history and visual culture Dr Neill Overton said students studying acting, design and TV production met co-directors and co-stars Kaarin Fairfax and John Jarratt for a question and answer discussion before and after the screening.

"StalkHer is a taut thriller and many expected John Jarratt to reprise his character 'Mick' in Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005), but this film straddles theatre and cinema in a seemingly effortless glide," Dr Overton said. "I say 'seemingly' because the art is in making it look effortless.

"The script anchors this film. Or as John Jarratt deftly summarised in his earlier talk, the three things a good film needs are (1) the script, (2) the script, and (3) the script."

Dr Overton said that in an earlier interview John Jarratt likened StalkHer to the film versions of both Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Mike Nichols, 1966) (adapted from the 1962 Edward Albee play of the same title) and Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990) (adapted from the 1987 Stephen King novel of the same title).

"But to me, StalkHer sits more in the mould of Sleuth (Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1972) (adapted from the 1970 play by Anthony Shaffer) where Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine squared-off in an acting joust, skipping from intense fear, psychological torture, and physical demeaning of each other, to weary humour, and, like StalkHer, all in the claustrophobic 'container' of two just rooms," he said.

The producer of StalkHer, Craig Kocinski, who trained initially as an actor, also spoke with eloquence and insight about the mesh of defined roles that a film requires to function as a collective effort. This added greatly to the scope of the discussion by the three filmmakers. Their collective views on theatre, film production, and methods of acting were illustrated with humorous and riveting anecdotes, and were thoroughly grounded in all aspects of the industries.

Dr Overton said he was delighted by the range of thoughtful questions the CSU students asked regarding the acting, production, set and stage design of StalkHer.

"The students showed a respectful intelligence regarding the craft skills needed to create a motion picture, and this reflected their enthusiasm for the wider entertainment profession they will soon attempt to enter.

"This is the great value of encounters such as this between working professionals like Kaarin Fairfax and John Jarratt and our students as aspiring practitioners. It provides the students with very direct insight and heightened motivation. The students gained a great deal of insight from this guest-lecture into the range a career in acting, writing, directing and production might encompass in the Australian entertainment industry," he said.

The official website and trailer for StalkHer is here: http://www.stalkherfilm.com/