by FilmInk Staff
1930s colonial frontier: three irrepressible kids, on the run from their cruel white masters, journey across the sweet country of central Australia to try and find a safe home.
That’s the logline for Wolfram, currently in production in Alice Springs.
Like Sweet Country, the film is being shot and directed by Warwick Thornton, from a script by Steven McGregor and David Tranter, with the latter’s family history the inspiration for the story. “David Tranter’s family story is also my family’s story,” said Thornton in a statement. “My great grandmother and her daughters worked the Hatches Creek mines for whitefellas. Now a truth will come and it’s called Wolfram.”
“The truth-telling legacy of Sweet Country had a profound impact on audiences all around the world, and we cannot wait to tell more of this family’s frontier experiences as we delve back into its world,” added producers David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin, Bunya Productions, who will also distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand under their Dark Matter banner. “The unparalleled directorial stewardship of Warwick Thornton will bring to life the exquisite and psychologically affecting portraits of the characters created in David Tranter and Stephen McGregor’s script.”
Wolfram is set a few years after the events of Sweet Country, taking the perspective of the women and children of the family, led by matriarch Pansy (Deborah Mailman). According to a press release, whereas Sweet Country was about justice, Wolfram is about family; move over Fast & Furious, there’s a new franchise in town!
Sweet Country‘s returning cast include Luka May Glynn-Cole, Anni Finsterer, Gibson John, Natassia Gorey Furber and Thomas M. Wright as Mick Kennedy, whilst other cast include Pedrea Jackson, Errol Shand, Joe Bird, John Howard, Aidan Du Chiem, Ferdinand Hoang, Jason Chong and Matt Nable (Riddick).
Photo by Dylan River
