NZ film maker, unknown actress centre stage at Sydney Film Fest

Emily Barclay usually works in an Auckland video store. So the 19-year-old was understandably nervous about being cast as the star attraction at tonight's opening of the Sydney Film Festival.

"It seems very staggering," she said of her acting debut in the Festival's opener, New Zealand-made mystery drama In My Father's Den.

Barclay was discovered by Diana Rowan, the same casting agent that unearthed Anna Paquin for The Piano and Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider.

Both received Oscar nominations - with Paquin winning - for their first film roles.

But Barclay, who has had no formal acting training, is not expecting to continue that trend.

However, director Brad McGann believes Barclay is up there with Paquin and Castle-Hughes as a discovery.

He proudly resisted pressure from one of the $7 million film's backers who wanted an American girl cast in the role of Celia.

"Teenagers quite often act the part but Emily becomes the part. That's someting you can't teach.

"I don't want to pre-empt the audience's opinion but she definitely has equal potential to those two actors," McGann said ahead of tonight's curtain-raiser.

Barclay plays an inquisitive 16-year-old who disappears. A photojournalist, who returns to his native town in the South Island following the death of his father, is the prime suspect.

Scottish actor Matthew McFadyen plays the photojournalist.

The movie is loosely based on the whodunnit novel of the same name by New Zealand author Maurice Gee.

It is the first time a New Zealand feature will open the Sydney Film Festival for the first time in the event's 51-year history.

The festival, which screens more than 200 features, documentaries and shorts closes on June 26.

- NZPA