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SA on screen: Catch these SA made films and TV series out now
27 July 2023
South Australia is shining on screens in cinemas and lounge rooms around the country, with a whole host of South Australian made and SAFC supported productions currently hitting cinemas and streaming services. Check them out now!
Talk to Me, the highly anticipated directorial debut feature from SA’s Danny and Michael Philippou is in cinemas now. Filmed in Adelaide, and supported by the SAFC and Adelaide Film Festival, the horror follows a group of friends who discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand and become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces. Talk to Me is already an international hit with a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and four star reviews from The Guardian, Empire, Bloody Disgusting and Indiewire and a Twitter endorsement from Academy Award winning director Guillermo del Toro!
Warwick Thornton‘s feature film The New Boy, filmed in Burra in regional SA last year with stars Cate Blanchett and Aswan Reid, is now in cinemas nationally. The SAFC supported drama has attracted critical acclaim with The Australian’s five-star review declaring it “a masterpiece”. Time Out gave the “haunting Outback fable” four stars, as did Screen Rant which called the film “an ethereal experience with transcendent performances”.
Psychological thriller Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook and written by SA writer Hannah Kent, is now streaming worldwide on Netflix. Filmed in SA’s Riverland region and in Victoria, the Daina Reid directed feature stars Snook as a fertility doctor whose grasp on the cycle of life is put to the test when her young daughter Mia, played by newcomer Lily LaTorre, begins to exhibit increasingly strange behaviour. The Carver Films thriller has ranked in Netflix’s global Top 10 for the last two weeks since its release, and is among the most viewed English language films globally.
Ivan Sen‘s award-winning feature film Limbo is now available for streaming on ABC iView. Filmed in Coober Pedy last year, Limbo stars Simon Baker as Travis Hurley, a detective investigating the 20-year-old unsolved murder of a local First Nations girl. It also stars Rob Collins, SA actor Natasha Wanganeen and Nicholas Hope, and is produced by Bunya Productions’ David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin and Rachel Higgins. It recently won the Grand Prix for International Film at the Brussels International Film Festival.
Directed by SA’s Colin Thrupp of Adelaide Studios based Breakout Productions, new documentary Bull Shark Bandits is now streaming on NatGeo via Disney+. It follows two shark biologists as they investigate rising reports of bull sharks stealing from fishermen in Weipa, Queensland. In their research the team deploys ground-breaking experiments and technology, including a new prototype diving cage.
New SAFC supported comedy series Gold Diggers, from The Alliance – SA’s KOJO Studios and Stampede Ventures, with CBS Studios – is now streaming on ABC iView. Set in the 1850s Australian goldfields, it follows sisters Gert and Marigold and their ambition to strike it rich by landing themselves newly-rich idiots.
Award-winning feature documentary The Defenders, from SA writer/director Matt Bate, producer Gal Greenspan, and SA Executive Producer Rebecca Summerton, is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. It tells the gripping true story of detained Bahrain refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi and his supporters, including Craig Foster, former Socceroos captain and human rights activist.
Episodes of Warwick Thornton‘s high-octane First Nations vampire hunting series Firebite are dropping weekly on SBS, and streaming via SBS On Demand. Filmed in Coober Pedy, Firebite follows Tyson (Rob Collins) and Shanika (SA’s Shantae Barnes-Cowan) on their quest to battle the last colony of vampires in Australia.
Filmed in the Adelaide Hills, creature feature Carnifex is now streaming on Binge. Directed by SA director Sean Lahiff, and produced by SA’s Helen Leake and Gena Ashwell of Dancing Road Productions, this thriller about a terrifying new species of animal hunting a group of researchers in the Australian bush had its world premiere at the Sitges Film Festival and Australian premiere at Adelaide Film Festival 2022.
The Last Daughter, from Brenda Matthews and SA director Nathaniel Schmidt and produced by SA’s Simon Williams and Brendon Skinner of Gravity Films, is in limited cinema screenings across the country. This moving documentary follows Brenda’s mission to unearth the truth about her past, and to reconcile the two sides of her family – her white foster family, and her Aboriginal family. It premiered at Adelaide Film Festival 2022.
Want more? Check out our SA Made Showcase which lists feature films, television series, short films and documentary productions filmed, produced and/or post-produced in South Australia since 1975, as well as South Australian made video games.