By Erin Free
“You never see the outer suburbs on screen,” Ronnie S. Riskalla told FilmInk back on the release of his debut feature Streets Of Colour. “You see The Inner West, The Harbour Bridge and the outback, but not the outer suburbs. When I’d meet people at various events in the city, I’d tell them that I was from Mount Druitt, and they’d say, ‘What’s it like out there?’ They’d never seen it…apart from maybe some negative pieces on the news. Everything on TV is very negative, and I wanted this film to be a window into that part of that Sydney. I didn’t want it to be one-sided. There are a lot of hard-working, blue-collar people in the area. There are beautiful people there who really help other people who have been through adversity. I really wanted it to be a spotlight on the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Set in the western Sydney suburb of Mount Druitt, one of the most notorious postcodes in Australia, Streets Of Colour is the story of Terence “Tez” Hadid (Rahel Romahn), a shiftless, easy-going young Aussie man constantly distancing himself from his Arabic heritage. But when his best friend Akachi (Thuso Lekwape) is killed in a fight with the violently racist older brother of their friend Kyle (Elliott Giarola), Tez’s life implodes. His relationship with Akachi’s sister Tina (Athiei) – who is carrying his child – cracks and crumbles, and two years later, Tez is running drugs for a local dealer, snorting his profits, and denied all access to his young son because he can’t pass a drug test. But with the help of new flame Maddie (Veronica Cloherty) and the emotional guidance of mysterious old local Alexander (Peter McAllum), Tez has the slightest of chances to get his horribly messed up life back on track.

Streets Of Colour was met with salutary reviews, and picked up a number of major award nominations (including an AACTA for Best Indie Film) along the way. The success was particularly sweet for film-loving Mount Druitt-raised Ronnie S. Riskalla, who toiled on the film for several years, from a complicated financing process through a tough shoot and a long period of post-production. “I never thought after spending almost seven years on Streets Of Colour that we would get nominated for an AACTA and SPA award,” Riskalla tells FilmInk. “It’s a true testament that passion and determination is always the fuel that’s needed to accomplish the impossible. It’s been a long and arduous journey with Streets Of Colour, but in the end, the film played at Parliament House, and we got AACTA and SPA nominations.”
After the success of Streets Of Colour, Ronnie S. Riskalla has been asked to speak at multiple panels on indie filmmaking, with berths at the prestigious Australian Film, Television, And Radio School (AFTRS) and The Flickerfest Film Festival. Riskalla has now landed the coveted Directors Attachment placement on the new film from prolific filmmaker Kriv Stenders, who has helmed major works including Red Dog, Slim & I, Danger Close, Australia Day, Boxing Day and The Illustrated Family Doctor. Riskalla will get the opportunity to absorb some of Stenders’ vast experience on the set of his next film, The Correspondent, which swirls around the challenges faced by an Australian journalist reporting in Egypt. “Being mentored by one of Australia’s most prolific directors in Kriv Stenders is an absolute honour,” Riskalla tells FilmInk.
After finishing on The Correspondent with Kriv Stenders, Ronnie S, Riskalla will be developing his next feature film through his company Skycross Entertainment. After making such an impressive debut with Streets Of Colour, FilmInk will be watching with interest…
Streets Of Colour is available now on Digital. Click here for our review of the film. Click here for more on Ronnie S. Riskalla.