MELBOURNE, Thursday, 16 April 2009 – One of the most exciting and innovative of recent Australian films, MEN’S GROUP is a revelatory and ultimately uplifting drama packed with incredible performances – earning the film, and lead actor Grant Dodwell, 2008 Inside Film Awards for Best Feature Film and Best Actor, as well as for Best Script.

MEN’S GROUP is the story of six very different men who meet once a week to talk. When they begin they are complete strangers. As trust grows they gradually begin to share and discover that they are not quite so alone in their fears. It takes a tragedy for the men to finally understand that they must take responsibilities for their own lives and those of their loved ones.

In creating MEN’S GROUP, director Michael Joy was anxious to give men a realistic voice, so he pioneered a unique directorial method. He gave each of the six actors a strong character and a back story known only to them individually, then placed all six men in a room together, leaving them to choose their own approach at unveiling their stories.

Producer John L. Simpson explains, “The actors were not allowed to see the script, as we wanted to capture their first responses to their [characters’] lives as they unfolded in real time as the cameras were rolling.”  This ground-breaking technique means that the performances captured in MEN’S GROUP are utterly raw and frighteningly real.

Given that Australian men are notoriously hard-edged and rarely forthcoming with their emotions, MEN’S GROUP is particularly relevant in the context of the current recession, where pressures of lay-offs and economic uncertainty are likely to be at the forefront of the male breadwinners’ concerns.