SWEET AS TRAILER from Arenamedia on Vimeo.
Sweet As, the debut feature from Nyul Nyul/Yawuru filmmaker Jub Clerc, is described as “The Breakfast Club meets the outback”.
The coming-of-age film follows Shantae Barnes-Cowan as16-year-old Murra, who on the verge of self-destruction. That is, until her policeman uncle (Mark Coles Smith) secures an unusual lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids”.
Murra isn’t entirely convinced, but she soon joins cantankerous Kylie (Mikayla Levy), uptight Sean (Andrew Wallace), happy-go-lucky Elvis (Pedrea Jackson), and team leaders Fernando (Carlos Sanson Jr) and Mitch (Tasma Walton) on a transformative bus trip through the Pilbara. On the trail, the teens learn about fun, friendship and first crushes, as well as the forces of ‘reality’ that puncture the bubble of youth.
Clerc wrote the screenplay with Steve Rodgers, based on her life growing up in the Pilbara region.
Sweet As is an Arenamedia production, produced by Liz Kearney and executive producer Robert Connolly. It is currently making its festival run, playing Melbourne International Film Festival, CinefestOz (where it will contend the $100,000 Film Prize) and the Toronto International Film Festival.
Major production investment comes via Screen Australia’s First Nations Department in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest and the Western Australian Screen Fund. There is further support from Soundfirm, the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund and VicScreen.
Cinemaplus will distribute Sweet As in ANZ, with international sales by Maze Film Sales.