Surviving Georgia is a low-budget romantic comedy about two sisters (Holly Valance and Pia Miranda) that are brought together after they receive mysterious letters from their flighty, estranged mother, Georgia (Caroline O'Connor).
Upon learning of their mother's (apparent) death, the girls agree to move in together for six months – a condition of receiving their inheritance, an old shop in their hometown. What follows is an unexpected chain of events that lead the women to discover that love, friendship and happiness can often be found in the most unexpected places.
The next romcom to light up the box office? Probably not.
"This film would die if it was in the multiplexes," says co-producer Kate Whitbread, who directed the film alonside Sandra Scibberas. "People would judge it and say 'It's not Pretty Woman,' or 'It's not Friends with Benefits,' and that's not fair."
Shot on a budget of just $700,000 over five weeks in Melbourne and Warburton in 2009, the film was shown at last year's Dungog Film Festival, before being completely recut. Pick ups were shot, the structure was changed and the sound editing was re-mixed.
After being knocked back by big name distributors, Whitbread and co-producer Spencer McLaren joined up with one of the film's investors to form distribution company Momo Films.
"It's just a natural extension of producing a film," says Whitbread. "Filmmakers should be the one to distribute, because they know where the audience is."
Surviving Georgia will screen in no more than twelve screens across the country, with plans for each participating cinema to host a Q&A screening with the filmmakers. Whitbread belives the film will be particularly popular with regional audiences.
"We know there are people that want to see it," says Whitbread. "There aren't enough low-budget films for women over 35."
The film will be available on Foxtel On Demand and will screen in 2012 on Channel 10. The DVD will be released in time for Christmas.
Post-Georgia, Whitbread hopes to continue to "distribute low-budget films that slip through the cracks."
"People seem to think that if it's not Red Dog, then it's not a success," she says. "But they can't all be Red Dogs."
Surviving Georgia will be released on October 13. For cinemas screening the film, click here
Holly Valance and Pia Miranda as Rose and Heidi