Screen Tasmania has invested more than $45,000 to support the development of two feature films and a TV drama series.
Tasmanian Aboriginal writer Nathan Maynard and Queensland producer Chris Brown (The Proposition, The Railway Man) have received support to develop Musquito – a feature film inspired by the life of the Aboriginal warrior who fought against the white colonists during the Black Wars in Van Diemen’s Land.
Emerging Indigenous director Dylan River is attached to help develop and ultimately direct the film.
Producer Posie Graeme-Evans, creator of McLeod’s Daughters and Hi-5, has received funding to develop TV drama Family Arrangements, a mystery about the disappearance of a florist, with fellow writers Franz Docherty and Belinda Bradley.
The third project is the feature The World Beneath, a survival saga based on the Cate Kennedy novel from writers Bradley and Docherty and producers Fiona McConaghy (Rosehaven, The Kettering Incident) and Jannine Barnes (Downriver).
Family Arrangements – 8 x 60 minute television drama series ($15,000)
Production company: Millennium Pictures Pty Limited
Writer/Producer: Posie Graeme-Evans
Writers: Franz Docherty and Belinda Bradley
The series centres around the disappearance of a florist, Rose Seeder, and follows her family members as they try to keep the shop running amid the discovery of an astonishing secret.
Musquito – feature film ($18,350)
Production company: Pictures in Paradise Pty. Ltd.
Producer: Chris Brown
Writer/Director: Dylan River
Writer: Nathan Maynard
Script Editor: Ranald Allan
The feature details the life of Musquito, an Aboriginal warrior who fought against the white colonists during the Black Wars in Van Diemen’s Land.
The World Beneath – feature film ($12,000)
Production Company: Happening Films Pty. Ltd.
Producers: Fiona McConaughy and Jannine Barnes
Writers: Franz Docherty and Belinda Bradley
Script Editor: Ranald Allan
The World Beneath is based on the novel of the same name which tells a story of survival set against the unpredictable landscape of Tasmania.