In the follow-up to her debut feature Look Book Ways, writer/director Sarah Watt again teams with producer Bridget Ikin to explore the surprises of daily life. My Year Without Sex extends Watt’s concerns with the capricious ways that the gods can reach out into suburbia and strike you down.

Natalie and her family are the stuff of everyday life: mortgage, messy house, job worries, trying to figure out how fast to let the kids grow up. When Natalie collapses suddenly and wakes in hospital following emergency surgery, a year of slow rehabilitation begins. In the process she has to address the big questions: is there a God, and if so, why does the dryer keep on breaking down? If life is governed by dumb luck, should I play the pokies?

Sacha Horler gives one of the best performances you’ll see this year at the centre of a family prone to all the terrors and comedies of ordinary life in this strange, exotic and quietly remarkable place called Australia.

Awards:

• Nominated Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay

• Nominated  AFI Award for Best Lead Actress – Sacha Horler

• Nominated: IF Awards Best Actress – Sasha Horler

Festivals:  Edinburgh 09; Toronto 09; Golden Horse (Taipei) 09; Hong Kong 10