Courtin-Wilson, a young Melbourne filmmaker, who has won accolades with the documentaries Chasing Buddha and Bastardy, met Jones while working with Plan B, a Melbourne theatre group founded to help rehabilitate former prisoners through performance.
Hail tells the story of a prisoner who is released from a Melbourne jail and tries to return to a normal domestic and working life. It is based on the experiences of former prisoners like Jones, who allowed a film crew into the flat he shares with his girlfriend Leanne to film his family and former criminal associates.
Jones explained in Venice that he had already been in Cannes with Courtin-Wilson's short film, Cicada. Strangely enough he had dreamt he was coming to Venice this year - just like with Cannes in 2009.
Jones said he planned to marry his girlfriend soon "so the festival is like a honeymoon in advance".
Jones explained his first crime was being born. "After my mother and father separated, my mother became seriously ill and I was raised in a boys' home," he said. "So at the age of 12, I was exposed to all the things that happen in the criminal world."
Empire magazine film critic Damon Wise described Jones' performance as "brilliant in the moments when you really got inside his mind and he was articulating his rage. When his eyes glazed over and he was in the zone it was really frightening".
Helen Barlow @'The West Australian'
Venice Press Conference
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