Sydney will feature as itself while also doubling as New York and Nigeria as production on buddy comedy Carmen and Bolude gets underway in October.
Director Maria Isabel de la Ossa will make her feature debut with the film, which follows the titular characters on a journey from Harlem, New York to Sydney, where they have ten days to collect 100 ‘welcomes’ so that Bolude’s traditional Nigerian father will agree to let her marry an Australian.
The story is loosely based on the friendship between writers Bolude Watson and Michela Carattini, who will lead a cast that includes Umbilical Brother David Collins, Nigerian British actor Wale Ojo, and comedian Joe Avati.
Carattini will also produce alongside Yolandi Franken and Julie Greene via Draw Your Own Box Productions. Cinematographer Calum Stewart will be behind the lens, with the shoot to take place across five four-day weeks from October 23. A crowdfunding campaign is being launched on July 1 in support of the film.
It’s been a long time coming for the project, which has been in development for almost a decade.
Among the highs, which include receiving development support from Screen Australia’s Generate Fund and being selected for the Ontario Creates International Financing Forum at the Toronto International Film Festival, there have also been challenges, most notably a multi-million dollar outside investment that didn’t eventuate, forcing the producers back to the drawing board and in need of a new director.
It was while serving as an intimacy coordinator on the upcoming SBS comedy While The Men Are Away that Carattini met de la Ossa, who was working in the camera department, with the pair bonding quickly over their shared Panamanian heritage.
After following the director on social media, Carattini learned that the filmmaker had made a short film based on Stephen King’s short story All That You Love Will Be Carried Away that had been selected for the St Kilda Film Festival, and also had experience as a live-action director for Sky, leading her to suggest Carmen and Bolude as a possible collaboration.
“She had been asking me to meet up because we have a very strong connection, culturally,” Carattini said.
“When we did, I said, ‘You didn’t tell me you were a director, we’re really looking for a strong Latina African voice for this film. It’s been hard to find the right person here in Australia and I think you might be perfect for this’.”
de la Ossa said her involvement had been “very serendipitous”, describing the project as the “opportunity of a lifetime”.
“It is like after so many years of hard work the universe put us on the same path in order to meet,” she said.
Carmen and Bolude will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand via Bonsai Films and internationally through TriCoast Worldwide.