Odin’s Eye Entertainment has acquired worldwide sales rights to Lemon Tree Passage, an Australian supernatural thriller directed and co-written by David Campbell.
The South Australian-shot film inspired by an urban legend had its first screening on Saturday at the European Film Market in Berlin.
Campbell and Erica Brien wrote the screenplay after he saw a segment on Today Tonight in 2010 dealing with teenagers who were caught speeding in Lemon Tree Passage Road in Port Stephens, NSW, and told the cops they saw a ghostly light.
A video of the sighting has been viewed more than 330,000 times on YouTube and some locals believe it’s the spirit of a motorcyclist who was killed on the road.
The plot follows three American backpackers who learn about the ghost of a motorcyclist that stalks young motorists and encounter something far more evil.
The cast includes Jessica Tovey (Tracks, TV's Wonderland), Pippa Black (TV’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Nicholas Gunn (a former Neighbours regular), Tim Phillipps (TV’s Chopper, The Secret Circle), Tim Pocock (Dance Academy, Home and Away) and Andrew Ryan (Not Suitable for Children, Tomorrow, When the War Began).
Distributor Shooting Stars bought Middle East and North African rights on the eve of EFM.
The producer Jeremy Ervine and Campbell gave up secure, well-paying jobs in the advertising industry to make the film without the assistance of any state or federal agency. Ervine and Campbell have formed their own production company, Thirteen Disciples.
Odin’s Eye Entertainment’s Michael Favelle says he has not yet shown the film to Australian distributors.
Favelle also acquired worldwide sales rights to 2nd Reign of Night, a Spanish/US feature directed by first-timer Antoni Solé, the story of an eminent anthropologist who, after translating an ancient text, unwittingly resurrects an Egyptian god plunging the world into eternal darkness.