After a year in which Matthew Newton's activities offscreen attracted more attention than his onscreen work, he's back with a new film that examines human relationships.
Newton wrote, directed and acted in Three Blind Mice, one of two Australian films selected for the Sydney Film Festival's (SFF) inaugural competition, the Sydney Film Prize.
On Tuesday, the 31-year-old jetted into France to attend the Cannes International Film Festival, promote the SFF and rub shoulders with some of the biggest names in the industry.
"It's incredibly exciting to be here," Newton told AAP from Cannes.
"It's a very surreal atmosphere here, everyone is a walking sales pitch."
The week at Cannes is a short break in Newton's hectic schedule to put the finishing touches on his second feature film as a director.
Three Blind Mice is a psychological drama that follows three young Australian naval officers on shore leave before being shipped out to Iraq.
Newton said when the idea for the film came to him, he thought it would be an interesting situation to put under the microscope.
"It's an anti-war film but I didn't want to make a chest-beating political film, I wanted to make a personal film," he said.
"I wanted to show three young guys, doing what I think young guys should be doing with their lives - getting things wrong, getting into trouble, getting themselves out of trouble, meeting partners, sorting themselves out and spending an evening away from what they're about to be forced to go and do."
The son of TV legends Bert and Patti Newton had a difficult year in 2007, when he was sacked from his new radio job and charged with assaulting former girlfriend Brooke Satchwell.
Newton was initially found guilty but his conviction was overturned later in the year.
Since then he has thrown himself into theatre and film projects.
He says he has a particular interest in human relationships.
"I'm only interested in people and how they relate to each other, and how they have difficulty relating to each other," he said.
"They are the films I want to make, and that's all I'll make films about."
Three Blind Mice impressed SFF director Clare Stewart, who praised Newton's "punchy script" and called the film "deceptive freewheeling and sophisticated".
Along with stuntman-turned-director Nash Edgerton's film The Square, it will represent Australia in the SFF's competition, up against the work of film luminaries Mike Leigh and Kimberly Peirce.
"It's an absolute honour to be included in that company," Newton said.
"It's wonderful for the film and for everyone involved, and it's nice for Australian films to compete in that international arena."
While Newton has had a successful acting career, appearing in films like Looking For Alibrandi, and the TV miniseries Changi, he sees himself directing a lot more in the future.
"I love directing, and I want to make many more films," he said.
"I really like telling Australian stories. Or I should say I like telling stories in Australia, because I think the idea of an Australian story is a cliche in itself.
"Our stories are international."
