The first production still has been released from Cargo, starring Sherlock’s Martin Freeman.
Currently shooting in South Australia, the film is based on Yolanda Ramke and Ben Howling’s 2013 Tropfest short. Ramke wrote the script, and tshe and Howling are making their feature directorial debuts.
Causeway Films producers Samantha Jennings (The Pretend One) and Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook) are working alongside Addictive Pictures’ Russell Ackerman (Hellboy II) and John Schoenfelder, with Mark Patterson attached as South Australian producer.
Cargo follows an infected man stranded in rural Australia in the aftermath of a violent pandemic. He desperately seeks a new guardian for his infant child, and a means to protect her from his burgeoning zombification.
Salvation may lie with an isolated Aboriginal tribe, but to gain access he must first earn the allegiance of a young Indigenous girl on a tragic quest of her own.
Freeman stars alongside David Gulpilil (Charlie’s Country, Ten Canoes, Storm Boy), Anthony Hayes (Animal Kingdom, The Light Between Oceans, War Machine), Caren Pistorius (Slow West, Offspring, The Light Between Oceans), Susie Porter (Puberty Blues, Better Than Sex, Little Fish) and newcomer Simone Landers.
The production is receiving support from Screen Australia, the South Australian Film Corporation, Screen NSW, White Hot Productions and The Gingerbread Man.
Bankside Films is exclusively handling international sales. Umbrella will distribute in Australia and New Zealand and Icon Film Distribution is distributing in the UK. Bankside Film’s sister company, Head Gear Films, also provided production finance with Phil Hunt and Compton Ross acting as Executive Producers for Head Gear Films.