Funding approvals
2023-2024 Development Funding

FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

THAYA (OLDER BROTHER)
Euraba Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Director Ivan Sen
Producers Ivan Sen, David Jowsey
Synopsis A teenage Gomeroi boy, Brandon, arrives home from prison in the aftermath of his brother's suicide.

BIDJARA GIRL
Ramu Productions Pty Ltd, Wirrim Media, Australian Centre for Indian Cinema
Genre Drama
Writer Richard Jameson
Producers Jodie Bell, Richard Jameson, Anupam Sharma
Synopsis A family secret sets Natasha on a journey of self-discovery, plunging her head-on into another ancient culture as different as it is colourful.

MOODJA
Rush Films Pty Ltd
Genre Mystery, Supernatural
Writer/Director Karla Hart
Producer Cody Greenwood
Executive Producer Amanda Morrison
Synopsis After a young Noongar girl brings home a branch of the spiritual moodja tree, her father’s world unravels as he seeks the truth of what happened to his missing daughter.

RUBY MOONLIGHT
No Coincidence Media and Arenamedia
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Beck Cole
Co-Writer Samantha Laughton
Producers Mitchell Stanley, Rhea Stephenson
Executive Producers Robert Connolly, Robert Patterson
Development Consultant Ali Cobby Eckermann
Synopsis Ruby Moonlight is a searing, lyrical, and almost silent feature film that upends the dominant narrative of white colonial invasion. It offers a personal, spiritual and immense narrative from an Indigenous female point of view, asserting survival, love, kinship and connection to Country.

CODE OF SILENCE
Inkey Media
Genre Comedy, Crime
Writer Kodie Bedford
Producers Dena Curtis, Lois Randall
Script Editor Joan Sauers
Synopsis Col Dillon was the only Black cop in a racist Queensland police force, and the only honest cop in a Licensing Branch that ran Brisbane like a pimp. In the 1980’s Queensland Police was a tinderbox waiting to explode and Code of Silence is the true story of how Col made sure it blew all the way to the top.

NATIVE GODS
Djali House Pty Ltd
Genre Action adventure, science fiction
Director Hunter Page-Lochard
Writers Hunter Page-Lochard, Huna Amweero
Producers Hunter Page-Lochard, Huna Amweero
Story Consultant Stephen Page
Production Designer Jacob Nash
Synopsis A man realises his mental health issues are more complex when his teenage son begins experiencing the exact same hallucinations. Father and son must embark on a journey to find their ancestors, revealing a plot that has kept one of their elders imprisoned for decades.

LANGUAGE OF BIRDS
Seymour Films
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Erica Glynn
Producers Charlotte Seymour, Erica Glynn
Executive Producer Sue Maslin
Synopsis Language of Birds is the story of an Aboriginal mother and daughter battling to fall in love after a life time apart.

RED
PiNK PEPPER PTY LTD and Ramu Productions
Genre Drama
Writer/Directors Kodie Bedford, Jub Clerc, Kelli Cross, Mitch Torres, Karla Hart, Chantelle Murray, Ngaire Pigram, Debbie Carmody
Producers Taryne Laffar, Jodie Bell
Executive Producers Kerry Warkia, Kiel McNaughton
Script Editors Dot West, Nicole Dade
Synopsis Meet eight Western Australian First Nations women from across the state whose language, culture and customs are different but all share the ugly secret of being surrounded by the missing.

HIDE THE DOG
Wooden Horse
Genre Action Adventure, Family
Writers Nathan Maynard, Jamie McCaskill
Executive Producers Richard Finlayson, Jude Troy
Script Editor Stephen Cleary
Synopsis Twelve-year-old best friends, impulsive palawa girl Niarra and conflicted Māori boy Tee, must evade child-eating monsters and outwit the gods of both cultures to save an extinct Tasmanian Tiger from hunters – by hiding it in Aotearoa.

GHOST BRUTHAZ
No Coincidence Media
Genre Comedy, Horror
Creator David Towney
Writer/Director Jon Bell
Producers Mitchell Stanley, Rhea Stephenson
Co-Producer David Towney
Synopsis Swindling brothers, Wobb and Fudd, establish a ghost cleaning service to make a quick dollar and soon realise that the ghosts are real, and, that this may very well be their last side hustle.

BLOOD
Good Thing Productions Company Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Larissa Behrendt
Producers Nick Batzias, Virginia Whitwell
Executive Producer John Harvey
Synopsis Thirteen-year-old Jessie struggled with the implications of his mother's self-destructive life choices and long ago learned that he cannot rely on her but a reckless action of rebellion will leave him and his younger sister running for their lives.

1982
Bacon Factory Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Dean Gibson
Producer Helen Morrison
Synopsis In the electrifying arena of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, an Aboriginal boxer's punches reverberate far beyond the ring, embodying his unyielding conflict between his towering ambition and ancient heritage.

AEROPLANE DANCE
Bunya Productions
Genre Action adventure, Drama
Writer/Director Warwick Thornton
Producers David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin
Synopsis Second World War photojournalist Shelly Capper is assigned to a secret mission to locate a grounded Japanese bomber in Arnhem land. When she finds the plane crashed into a swamp, it’s not just the experimental technology that surprises, but what she discovers inside the bombers fuselage...

RUBY MOONLIGHT
No Coincidence Media and Arenamedia
Genre Drama
Writer/Director Beck Cole
Co-Writer Samantha Laughton
Producer Mitchell Stanley
Executive Producers Robert Connolly, Robert Patterson
Development Consultant Ali Cobby Eckermann
Synopsis Ruby Moonlight is a searing, lyrical, and almost silent feature film that upends the dominant narrative of white colonial invasion. It offers a personal, spiritual and immense narrative from an Indigenous female point of view, asserting survival, love, kinship and connection to Country.

DUBBOO (WORKING TITLE)
Blackfella Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama, Musical
Director Stephen Page
Writers Stephen Page, Alana Valentine
Producer Darren Dale
Synopsis Dubboo follows the extraordinary life of David Page, from his days as a child star for Atlantic Records, drag queen leading Brisbane’s gay bar circuit, to the visionary music director at Bangara. Told with the music that informed so much of his life and work, Dubboo is a dynamic coming of age story about the power of finding your voice.

TV DEVELOPMENT

AFTER STORY
6 x 60 mins
Jungle Entertainment
Genre Drama, Mystery
Writer/Director Larissa Behrendt
Executive Producers Larissa Behrendt, Chloe Rickard, Shay Spencer
Synopsis When an Indigenous mother and daughter journey from their Australian homeland to the UK, they discover that the past is never quite behind them, and have to find their way back to each other to overcome their dark family secrets. Based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Larissa Behrendt.

LANDGRABBERS
8 x 45 mins
Kindling Pictures
Genre Comedy, Drama, Family
Writer/Director Adrian Russell Wills
Producers Imogen Banks, Emelyne Palmer
Synopsis After winning the largest prize pool in True Blue Lotto history, Wankamurra Wommnarua grandmother Eunice becomes torn between helping her dysfunctional family, buying back her land, or becoming Dubbo’s newest entrepreneur.

LONG STORY SHORT
6 x 30 mins
Unless Pictures
Genre Comedy
Writer/Director Tanith Glynn-Maloney
Producer Meg O'Connell
Synopsis After her husband leaves her for a white woman, Sandra embarks on a dating rampage through the small town of Alice Springs and ends up discovering more about herself than her husband ever did.

SERPENTINE
6 x 60 mins
Arenamedia
Genre Drama, Thriller, Crime, Mystery
Creators Kodie Bedford, Tasma Walton
Writer Kodie Bedford
Producer Liz Kearney
Executive Producers Kodie Bedford, Tasma Walton
Synopsis Feisty Aboriginal detective Allie investigates a missing Aboriginal girl in her hometown of Serpentine, uncovering a community fractured and a poisoned country seeking revenge.

Documentary Development

DESCENDANTS
1 x 90 mins
GARUWA Creative Pty Ltd
Director Genevieve Grieves
Producers Laurrie Mansfield, Kieran Satour
Synopsis Descendants brings black and white Australians together in a reckoning with our nation’s violent past.

FIRE COUNTRY
6 x 28 mins
WildBear Entertainment Pty Ltd
Directors John Harvey, Jason De Santolo
Writers John Harvey, Jason De Santolo, Victor Steffensen
Producer Kate Pappas
Executive Producer Michael Tear
Synopsis A journey in fire…Fire Country is a transformative exploration of Indigenous fire knowledge and wisdom. It is a co-production between WildBear Entertainment and Brown Cabs.

INDESIGN
6 x 60 mins
Future Homes Project Pty Ltd
Co-Writers Mitchell Stanley, Georgia Birks
Producers Mitchell Stanley, Michaela Perske, Nha-Uyen Chau
Researcher Kim Steblina
Synopsis Presented by Georgia Birks, InDesign explores the contemporary and sustainable approach to architecture and design in Australia.

NATIVE KITCHEN
4 x 52 mins
Boardwalk Pictures PTY LTD
Writer/Director Jack Steele
Producer Michael Hilliard
Synopsis Native Kitchen is a documentary series that explores the connection between First Nations people and bush tucker - the challenges of connection to country, of maintaining and passing on cultural knowledge, native ingredients in fine dining, and turning culture into economic pathways for First Nations communities.