Locusts (Heath Davis, 2018) wr. Angus Watts, prod. Angus Watts, dp Chris Bland; Jessica McNamee, Ben Geurens, Peter Phelps; crime
Two estranged brothers who are reluctantly reunited in their remote hometown at their father's funeral, become the target of an extortion scam at the hands of a gang of violent local thugs.
... a dark drama about a tech entrepreneur who gets caught in an extortion racket when he returns home for his father's funeral. Written by Angus Watts, who is also producing, it stars Ben Geurens, Nathaniel Dean and Jessica McNamee.
Davis says the title is a metaphor for how a once flourishing
mining town has been stripped.
Broken Hill is doubling for Serenity Crossing, which has struggled with unemployment, crime and an ice epidemic since the boom ended.
"The whole community actually loves movies, which is strange," Davis said between shots. "You go to a lot of towns - sometimes bigger cities like Sydney - and you say 'I need your house' or 'we want to film here' and nobody's interested.
"But they're all behind us. They understand the area is synonymous with filmmaking because they've done so many things."
Self-financed with a budget of $1.5 million, Locusts has a two-a-half-week shoot in Broken Hill, then two weeks in Sydney. It is Davis' second film this year after shooting the low budget school comedy Book Week in the Blue Mountains in January. Garry Maddox, SMH
Garry Gillard | New: 22 November, 2019 | Now: 26 November, 2019