by FilmInk Staff
As the debut short film from Damo & Tim Productions, BACKFOOT marks the beginning of a bold creative vision centred on emotionally honest storytelling and spiritually grounded themes often absent from modern film, while also highlighting the raw energy and culture of Australian basketball as a backdrop of its story of identity, redemption, and mentorship – drawn from Hempstead’s own 12 years of experience playing representative basketball in Sydney and competing in AAU tournaments throughout the United States.
Starring Damian Hempstead (The Narrow Road to the Deep North), CJ Bloomfield (Mortal Kombat 2, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) and Bella Green (Last King of the Cross), BACKFOOT arrives as more than just another Australian short film. It is a deeply personal meditation on grace, identity and the transformative power of forgiveness. Written and directed by Hempstead in his directorial debut – while also taking on the film’s lead role – the project draws from lived experience and intimate relationships, giving the story an emotional authenticity rarely found in contemporary independent cinema.
“BACKFOOT is a story that blends fiction with a number of personal and real life elements that ring truly deep to me,” Hempstead explains. “A few of the characters are based on people who are closest to me in my life, and that made the whole process feel incredibly raw and real. This project is definitely my baby. It carries not just my creative vision, but my heart.”
That honesty is precisely what makes BACKFOOT stand apart.
At a time when faith centered storytelling is often either marginalised or reduced to caricature, Hempstead is a part of a growing movement of filmmakers reclaiming spiritual themes with emotional nuance and cinematic ambition. Rather than preaching, BACKFOOT seeks to confront the universal human struggle for reconciliation – with others, with ourselves, and ultimately with God.
“One of the things I’m most passionate about is bringing Christian centred themes back into media,” Hempstead says. “Themes that I believe are too often left out of film today. To see those ideas brought to life through this story has been an honour.”
The film’s central theme is forgiveness – not as a cliché, but as a radical act capable of transforming broken people.
“At its core, this film is about forgiveness, real transformative forgiveness. The kind that changes people from the inside out,” Hempstead says. “And for me, it’s only through Jesus that I’ve come to truly understand what it means to love and forgive, because He forgave me first. Everything I know about grace, redemption, and second chances begins with Him.”
#
That perspective gives BACKFOOT its emotional gravity. The performances from Hempstead, Bloomfield and Green ground the story in realism, allowing the film’s spiritual undertones to emerge organically rather than symbolically. The result is a film that feels both intimate and universal – a reflection on pain, healing and the possibility of restoration.
Perhaps most importantly, BACKFOOT challenges an industry increasingly hesitant to engage sincerely with themes of faith and redemption. It argues that audiences are still hungry for stories that offer hope without sacrificing artistic depth.
As Hempstead reflects: “When you experience forgiveness, then you can truly understand how to forgive others, allowing healing, redemption, and unexpected blessing to follow.”
In a cinematic landscape often dominated by spectacle, BACKFOOT dares to offer something quieter – and perhaps far more powerful: grace.
