Infini, a futuristic sci-fi thriller from director Shane Abbess, starts shooting in Sydney on Monday.
Scripted by Abbess and Brian Cachia, the privately financed film focuses on a search and rescue team sent into deep space to retrieve a stranded soldier.
The ensemble cast includes Daniel MacPherson, Grace Huang, Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Copeland, Dwaine Stevenson, Harry Pavlidis, Louisa Mignone, Tess Haubrich, Bren Foster and Luke Ford.
It’s the first project from Storm Vision Entertainment, a joint venture between production companies Storm Alley Entertainment (Shane Abbess and Sidonie Abbene) and Eclectik Vision (Brett Thornquest).
The Storm Vision partners plans to collaborate on a number of genre projects of varying budget sizes for 2014 and beyond. Matthew Graham is the lead producer on Infini, which is Abbess’ follow-up to Gabriel, a fantasy-action-horror film about an archangel who fights to bring light back to purgatory and save the souls of the city's inhabitants.
Cachia wrote the score for Gabriel and has since worked on the soundtracks for movies such as Halloween2, Sucker Punch, Super, Conan the Barbarian, The Darkest Hour and Killer Joe.
“Infini is my response to the types of films I’m not enjoying right now,” says Abbess. “It’s risky and bold both in narrative and thematically and I really like that. We either hit this one out of the park or die on our knees in the dirt. Both are very real options. There are no safe runs here. That makes this journey worth it.”
The plot sees the search and rescue team using slipstream technology to transport themselves to mining station Infini, where even space and time itself are a threat. Their mission is to save the lone survivor of a freak accident before quarantining a contaminated payload, a lethal biological weapon, set to arrive back on earth within the hour.
“Shane is very specific about the type of film he wants to make,” says Thornquest. “He’s a true artist focused mainly on the actors and their journey but just happens to be cursed with an eye for extraordinary action and staging."
Thornquest says the financing structure allows "for significant upside potential for the cast and crew. George Liddle (Dark City, Daybreakers) is the production designer and Carl Robertson is the DoP.
Storm Vision has begun pre-production on a second film, Terminus, which will mark the feature directing debut of Marc Furmie, director of development at Filmgraphics Entertainment.
Terminus is due to start shooting in December in Sydney with Tim Maddocks as lead producer.