The team behind the highly praised feature film Sequin in a Blue Room have been given funding for their next project. Among the swag of projects getting development funding are many new ideas involving queer stories or creative teams.
Screen Australia has announced $1 million of development funding for eight features, 15 television dramas and five online projects.
Among them is a new feature film from writer / director Samuel Van Grinsven and writer Jory Anast. We Went Up a Hill is a new project from Van Grinsven and Anast. Their first film won the Best Narrative Feature award at Sydney Film Festival, so there’s high expectations on the team.
Their new psychological thriller centres on Jack, who ventures to remote New Zealand to attend the funeral of his estranged birth mother and meets her grieving widow. But his search for answers becomes dangerous when his mother’s ghost returns to inhabit both her son and widow, instigating a life-threatening nocturnal dance between the three of them.
The creative team for the project also features producers Samantha Jennings and Kristina Ceyton of Causeway Films, who previously delivered The Babadook and Cargo, and New Zealand producer Vicky Pope.
Also receiving development funding is TV project Sick to Death from writer Thomas Wilson-White. His project tells the story of Chance, a self-involved queer playwright. When both of his mothers are diagnosed with terminal cancer he is forced to abandon his burgeoning career and return to his childhood home to become their full-time carer.
While Sorry About the Mess an animation project from comedian Cassie Workman that will share the adventures of Lilly Peril, a cynical transgender punk-rocker, begins to lose her grip on reality when she is rejected by her mother. In this proposed mind-bending animated comedy series, Lilly navigates heartbreak, new love, transition and a boss in the witness protection program in pursuit of her most honest life.
OIP Staff
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