Eight finalists will compete in AACTA and Monster Pictures pitch competition, Pitch: Isolation, with the winner to receive $10,000 in development funding and a theatrical distribution agreement.
The call out was for original concepts based around any kind of isolation – physical, societal or psychological – and ideas that work effectively with minimal locations, small casts and low costs.
The pitch will be streamed live, December 1, on AACTA Screenfest, judged by an industry panel including Monster Pictures owner Grant Hardie, Chris Brown (Daybreakers, Bait, The Railway Man) and Fairvale Entertainment’s Toby Louie and Nicholas Levene.
The finalists:
BLACKHEATH
Karina Banno, Raechelle Banno, George Maher
Max recounts her time in the strict religious community she recently escaped but struggles to move on as she fears her old ‘Family’ may be closing in on her and the only person she has left.
BURNING
Jordan Watton, Julia Corcoran
A low-achieving outsider who works as volunteer firefighter ignites a series of deadly blazes throughout bushfire season in his small town in rural Australia.
DRUMCHAPEL
Michael Irwin, Dean Musumeci, Matthew Keating
Two Security Guards attempt to escape a 19th century Workhouse, locked down by a century old, unknown biohazard.
FIERCE
Christian D’Alessi, Jesse O’Brian
A single mother and her two children, trapped and stalked by the mythic blue mountain phantom, must escape imminent bushfires and take back their lives.
THE REMOTE
Kelly Baigent, Luke Kneller
In 2021 Australian local authorities investigating multiple human deaths on a decommissioned nuclear test site, found several discarded cameras. The contents of those cameras, and the identities of the dead are classified: Top Secret. Anonymous whistle-blowers collated this footage, and when pieced together, it reveals: An enthusiastic group of young Sydney University academics travelling to the nuclear test site to analyse the radiation impact on the flora and fauna.
TERROR ZONE
Josh Sambono, Laura Sambono, Lucca Barone-Peters, Colin Wilson
A lonely assassin must confront traumatic childhood memories before she is consumed by a monster inside of her which has awakened.
UNDER
David Churak, Charlotte Daraio, Taryn Borgford
A successful woman returns to her isolated boarding school to bury a hideous tragedy from her past. There, she’s joined by four fellow alumni. What should be a happy reunion devolves into a slew of vicious accusations – but the real danger is the very present horrors stalking their old halls.
WHO THE BLOODY HELL GOES THERE?
Oscar Axel Thorborg, Aliya Tarmo
Fear and paranoia spread through staff at a wind farm in outback Australia when a conspiracy extremist claims the turbines are awakening an ancient evil.