An Indigenous detective investigates the murder of a teenage girl in a small town in the Outback. Ivan Sen (Toomelah) crafts a mesmerising thriller with a stellar Australian cast including Aaron Pedersen, Hugo Weaving, Ryan Kwanten and Jack Thompson.

Big landscapes, stunning scenery and incredible lakes of crystal blue water set against desert mountains.

This is Patterson, the remote town Indigenous detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) is sent to when two young jackaroos go missing from an outback cattle station. Jay thinks it will be a simple three-day job. But it soon becomes clear the teenagers didn't just wander off and get lost. Local Indigenous boy Marley knows the country, he would have stayed with the vehicle. It appears they've been taken by force. But by who? And why?

Jay – always a loner – now has to work with smart, tough local cop Emma James (Judy Davis). Born to a wealthy pastoral family and proud of her pioneering history, Emma's life is embedded in the town. But Emma has her own secrets – bound up in the history of the town. Jay is also saddled by the arrival of his daughter Crystal, who's run away from her own trouble at home, and his wife Mary – who comes after her daughter but really wants to save her marriage.

As Jay and Emma investigate the case, they unpeel the layers of the town revealing deep secrets, a previous crime and a major miscarriage of justice perpetrated a hundred years earlier.

Reviews for Mystery Road:

• “I won't lie and say Mystery Road kept me on the edge of my seat for its duration, but there is a lot to enjoy in its delicately peeled back layers.” – Jared Mobarak, The Film Stage
• “Sen (who also shoots, scores and edits) goes walkabout through the minefield of contemporary Australian culture, offering an evocative snapshot of an unravelling crime scene – social, racial and economic.” – Mark Kermode, Observer (UK)
• “A superior and taut outback adventure, you'd have to go back to Samson and Delilah to find an Australian feature this bonsa.” – Tara Brady, Irish Times
• “Aaron Pendersen is thoroughly believable as the conflicted Jay and the blasted landscape is photographed so well you'll be sweating and swatting the flies away from your own face after 10 mins.” – George Byrne, The Herald (Ireland)