Funding approvals
IN THE ARCHIVE
2019-2020 Development Funding

FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS
Seymour Films
Genre Comedy, Drama
Producer Charlotte Seymour
Executive Producer Sue Maslin
Writers Erica Glynn, Marie Munkara
Director Erica Glynn
Synopsis A young woman must unlearn her white upbringing and learn to be black.

BLOOD
Brown Cab Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Larissa Behrendt
Producer John Harvey
Synopsis Based on the novel ‘Blood’ by Tony Birch, a brother and sister escape their mother’s violent boyfriend and run straight into the arms of greater danger...

RUBY MOONLIGHT
No Coincidence Media Pty Ltd and Arenamedia Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Beck Cole
Producers Mitchell Stanley, Toni Stowers
Executive Producer Robert Connolly, Liz Kearney
Synopsis RUBY MOONLIGHT is a searing and lyrical feature film that upends the dominant narrative of white colonial invasion. In its place it offers a personal, spiritual and immense narrative from an Indigenous female point of view, asserting survival and connection to Country. RUBY MOONLIGHT is an adaptation of Ali Cobby Eckermann’s verse novel of the same name.

THE WINTER MEN
Kalori Productions
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Adrian Russell Wills
Producer Gillian Moody
Synopsis How do Black Men love? The Winter Men explores the lives of three Aboriginal men from the same family attempting to navigate love, life and heartbreak.   

WAY BACK WHEN
Bunya Entertainment
Genre Comedy, Drama
Writers Nakkiah Lui, Miranda Tapsell
Producers David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin
Executive Producer Sophia Zachariou
Synopsis Lost in the present, two young women travel back to the last place they felt truly happy: the 1990s.

SWEET COUNTRY 2 (Working Title) 
Retroflex Lateral Pty Ltd
Genre Western, Drama, Action adventure, Period
Producers David Jowsey, David Tranter, Greer Simpkin
Writer Steven McGregor
Synopsis A sequel to the award-winning Indigenous feature Sweet Country.

BARBARA AND THE CAMP DOGS
Sweet Country Films Pty Ltd
Genre Musical, Drama
Writers Ursula Yovich, Alana Valentine
Producers David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin, Vicki Gordon
Synopsis The story of two unpredictable and deeply vulnerable Aboriginal sisters Barbara and René and their all girl band The Camp Dogs, who are searching for the sense of connection that has been leached out of them by the years and the tears and the relentless demands of the city.

THE VISITORS
Good Thing Productions and Since 1788 Productions
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Dylan River
Producers Tanith Glynn-Maloney, Virginia Whitwell, Nick Batzias
Synopsis Delegates from various clans of the Eora Nation gather to discuss various strategies for dealing with their unwanted 'Visitors'. Adapted from stageplay “The Visitors” by Jane Harrison.

JANDAMARRA
Nagarra Nagarra Films Pty Ltd
Genre Western
Director Mitch Torres
Writers Mitch Torres
Synopsis The epic story about the lives of five men: a young warrior with spiritual powers, a shunned white police tracker looking for acceptance, a disgruntled white pastoralist and a savvy black tracker intertwine in this story of violent frontier war over land, law in the unforgiving landscape of the Kimberley.

Documentary DEVELOPMENT

INCARCERATION NATION
Bacon Factory Films Pty Ltd
Writer/Director Dean Gibson
Producer Helen Morrison
Synopsis A new convict era. Incarceration Nation will tell the tragic story of the systemic injustice and oppression of Aboriginal people in their own lands at the hands of our justice system.

THE CASTING OF NELLIE WALKER
Daniel Charles King
Director Daniel King
Synopsis Through retracing her Great Great Grandmother’s steps, Aboriginal artist Irene Ridgeway explores why a statue of Nellie Walker sits in the Sydney Museum vaults, why it was made and more importantly who she was.

OUR LAW
Pink Pepper & Periscope Pictures
Writers Taryne Laffar, Sam Bodhi Field, Gary Hamaguchi, Debbie Carmody
Producers Taryne Laffar, Sam Bodhi Field
Synopsis Being an Indigenous Police officer comes with a heavy price tag - facing up to extraordinary personal and institutional challenges. But could Aboriginal officers be the ultimate front-line in changing a prejudiced police culture from within, and rebuilding trust with Aboriginal people?

FIRE COUNTRY
Brown Cab Productions Pty Ltd
Director Jason De Santolo
Writers Victor Steffensen, Jason De Santolo
Producer John Harvey
Synopsis With an unprecedented fire season with massive ramifications for communities, Aboriginal fire knowledge has resonated a spark of discussion that calls for change on all levels to help save this country.

NYURRNYU 
Ramu Productions Pty Ltd
Director Gary Hamaguchi
Writers Gary Hamaguchi, Brooke Woolcock
Producers Jodie Bell, Brooke Woolcock
Synopsis As Platypus numbers drastically decline; can Traditional owners in the Kimberley help scientist discover a hidden population of one of Australia's most unique animals?

THE REPATRIATION PROJECT
1 x 60 mins
Pursekey Productions
Director Larissa Behrendt
Writers Larissa Behrendt, Amala Groom, Joel Bray
Producer Michaela Perske
Synopsis On the 250th anniversary of the Colonial Project, this film chronicles a First Peoples perspective on repatriating conceptual and physical ideas and objects of colonisation back to England.

Television drama DEVELOPMENT

PREPPERS
Porchlight Films 
Genre Comedy, Drama 
Producers Liz Watts, Sylvia Warmer 
Writers Nakkiah Lui, Gabriel Dowrick  
Synopsis Preppers is a narrative comedy TV series about a group of mismatched ‘preppers’ in Australia planning for the apocalypse.

PARADISE
Bunya Entertainment
Genre Comedy, Family
Writers Shari Sebbens, Adam Briggs, Meyne Wyatt, Dena Curtis, Adam Zwar
Producers David Jowsey, Sophia Zachariou, Greer Simpkin
Synopsis A comedy series set in a tropical resort. 

HOPE SPRINGS
Tamarind Tree Pictures and Carver Films
Genre Drama, Western
Writers Steven McGregor, Danielle MacLean
Producers Danielle MacLean, Anna Grieve, Anna McLeish, Sarah Shaw, Aaron Pedersen
Synopsis Hope Springs is a subverted Western of two opposing forces set against the backdrop of the Frontier Wars in 1900s Australia.

TATA DETECTIVE
Pink Pepper
Genre Drama, Crime
Creator Taryne Laffar
Writers Taryne Laffar, Beck Cole, Dot West
Producer Taryne Laffar, Lois Randall
Synopsis Feisty and gregarious Indigenous gallery owner turned culture detective Muriel Hunter uses her wit, charm and influence to take down the underbelly of the arts world in her Kimberleys homeland – finding herself caught between fighting for justice and protecting her family.

SEVEN
Ramu Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Drama, Supernatural
Writers Mitch Torres, Dot West, Jub Clerc
Producers Jodie Bell, Mitch Torres
Synopsis Through a series of bizarre events, seven adopted Indigenous women, each with a tattoo (small dots) inked on the underside of their left wrist, discover they are blood sisters who have special powers that could save the world.

THE NURSERY
Inkey Media
Genre Comedy, Drama
Writers Dena Curtis, Mario Gaoa
Producers Dena Curtis, Mitchell Stanley, Toni Stowers, Jodie Molloy
Synopsis When lifelong friends Betty, Judy, Rose and Arthur move into a nursing home, their lives are turned upside down, determined to regain their freedom, their weekly escapades lead to the spreading of STI’s, lockdowns and trips to the E.R.

Special Initiative – No Ordinary Black

6LACK KIDZ
Meyne Wyatt
Genre Coming of Age
Writer/Director Meyne Wyatt
Synopsis After returning to his hometown to see his dying mother, a man recounts a boyhood memory of his first day school with his cousins in a rough and violent town.

BLACKFELLAS WHO CAN’T DANCE
Enoch Mailangi
Genre Comedy, Drama
Writer/Director Enoch Mailangi
Synopsis In the heart of an infamous gay gym, two people meet and fall in love.

FINDING JEDDA
Inkey Media
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Tanith Glynn-Maloney
Producer Dena Curtis
Synopsis Two girls go head to head for the role of a lifetime.

MUDSKIPPER (WORKING TITLE)
Brown Cab Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Director John Harvey
Writers John Harvey, Walter Waia
Producer Gillian Moody
Synopsis A woman working in a laundromat comes across a man trapped in one of the washing machines.

SHINY ONE
Since1788 Productions and Chili Films
Genre Comedy, Family
Writer/Director Viviana Petyarre
Producer Tanith Glynn-Maloney
Executive Producer Penny McDonald
Synopsis Sick of humbug and hunger, a youngfella leaves his remote community to pursue a dream vision calling him to the big smoke to find his pot of gold.

THE LOST CRYSTAL OF JESSICA’S ROOM
Ramu Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Action adventure, Drama
Writer/Director Gary Hamaguchi
Producer Jodie Bell
Synopsis Two kids play a game where they use a treasure map to find a crystal in their backyard, but the treasure is not what is seems.

THE STOCKMAN
Rhianna Malezer
Genre Comedy, Drama, Family
Writer/Director Rhianna Malezer
Producer Jill Robinson
Executive Producer Dena Curtis
Synopsis Two cousins make up stories about an Aboriginal Stockman featured in a painting that hangs in their Nan's lounge room, as their ailing Nan sleeps in the next room.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO WHEN IT'S DARK INSIDE
Daniel Charles King
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Daniel Charles King
Synopsis Living in a stormwater drain Lional is confronted by the past after a visit from Makala.