A dark comedy about a misfit racehorse and his down-on-his-luck con artist owner and a story about a cursed radio station produced by the minds behind Lesbian Space Princess are among eight projects that will share in $136,000 from The Mercury’s Quicksilver Production Fund.
Tim Hodgson and writer/director Nicole Miller have been awarded the $50,000 grant to realise their vision for Lucky Nine Fingers, in which down-on-his-luck Marty, attempts to settle old debts by overselling shares in a dud racehorse, only for the scheme to come back and bite him.
Fresh from taking home the Teddy Award for Best Feature at last month’s Berlinale, Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs are set to produce Alice Lam’s Strange Devil Signals, one of five projects to receive a $10,000 grant. Varghese’s SXSW Award-winning short I’m The Most Racist Person I Know is a previous Quicksilver recipient.
Funded by the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), the grants enable short film teams to produce their projects and access mentoring, script consultation, production support, filmmaking equipment, and post-production facilities.
The Mercury general manager Sarah Lancaster said the initiative underscored the Mercury’s role as an “incubator for fresh voices and diverse storytelling within the screen industry”.
“With one creative team receiving $50,000 to produce their project and take it to the world’s stage, all teams receiving above-the-line mentoring and guidance for all projects, and access to the
new onsite filmmaking facilities at The Mercury, the Quicksilver Production Fund is a unique initiative that champions artistic vision and launches careers. I look forward to watching the development of these unique projects and following their creative journeys.”
SAFC head of production and development Leanne Saunders said the agency was pleased to foster the growth and development of emerging South Australian screen talents through the fund.
“Talent and career-boosting initiatives like Quicksilver are so important when it comes to cultivating our up-and-coming screen storytellers, providing opportunities for new voices to be heard and talents from a range of backgrounds and experience to collaborate on leading creative projects in new ways,” she said.
The selected projects are as follows:
$50,000 (one project)
Lucky Nine Fingers
Producer: Tim Hodgson
Writer/Director: Nicole Miller
Logline: Lucky Nine Fingers is a dark comedy about down-on-his-luck Marty, who attempts to settle old debts by overselling shares in a dud racehorse. Only to find this ‘sure bet’ scheme comes back to bite him.
$20,000 (one project)
Forget Me, Not
Producer: Sarah Wormald
Director: Tamara Hardman
Writers: Sophie Morgan, Tamara Hardman
Logline: Following a near drowning, Sadie awakens in a secluded seaside home and
must rely on her partner Adrian to fill in the substantial holes in her memory, but when a
strange mark appears on her skin, she questions if her relationship with Adrian was as
perfect as he claims it was.
$10,000 (five projects)
Stewed
Producer: Lilla Berry
Writer/Director: Pearl Berry
Logline: After waking up in an unknown place with no memory of how she got there, Kelly
is forced to reflect on her self-destructive behaviour as she tries to piece together the
night before.
False Narrative
Producers: Thibul Nettle, Travis Akbar
Writer/Director: Travis Akbar
Logline: When a rising First Nations boxer is falsely accused of heinous crimes after his
image is mistakenly used in a viral news report, he must confront the social, emotional,
and physical consequences of a media- fueled witch hunt while battling for his identity,
accountability, and resilience.
The Other House
Producers: Charlie Milne, Juniper Dew
Director: David Friswell
Writer: Charlie Milne
Logline: A bittersweet short film about two children who meet across three consecutive
Christmases while their families fall apart year by year.
Finding Harmony
Producer: Lysah Phoenix
Director: Cameron Edser
Writer: Lysah Phoenix
Logline: A bunny who experiences the world differently and a portal-hopping kangaroo
show the forest community that true harmony emerges when everyone’s unique way of
being is embraced
Strange Devil Signals
Producers: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese
Writer/Director: Alice Lam
Logline: Three twenty-somethings struggling to run an amateur radio station find their
work cut out for them when the station is cursed by a witch, and starts receiving calls
from the literal depths of hell.
$8,000 (one project)
Ananab Ananab
Producer: Emma Beech
Writer/Director: Emily Steel
Logline: When an eleven-year-old boy loses his mum’s attention to her new Pentecostal
Christian faith, he fakes speaking in tongues to get it back