DOCO FOLLOWS PALMY TRAMS DRAMA
A GOLD Coast filmmaker who has done crew work on movies including Alien Covenant, King Kong and Hacksaw Ridge has turned his attention to one of the city’s biggest issues – the battle over trams at Palm Beach.
Nathan Frost’s new project, a 45-minute documentary called Trams Outta Palmy, features a host of prominent locals and politicians.
Mr Frost, who has lived in the area for two years, says he was inspired to make the film after seeing posters pop up all over the suburb.
“I wanted to step up a level and start producing and directing my own stuff, which is where this project started,” he said. “I saw the signs and I thought, ‘ah, there’s got to be a story behind that. How many people are pissed off here?’”
Among those appearing in Mr Frost’s documentary are First Nations elder Cherie Dillon, staunch anti-rail advocate Karen Rowles and Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens – all of whom have expressed concerns about the light rail project.
Mr Frost said he was “personally neutral” about the controversy.
“I’m into filmmaking;
I was just really intrigued about representing the community’s voice in the whole thing,” he said.
“I get it, it’s an interesting debate because you’ve
got to keep up progression, keep up with building up the community.
“But at the same time, you want to keep that nice hamlet feel and there’s a lot of people who moved down here to avoid the glitz and glam of the Gold Coast.”
Mr Frost, who has primarily
worked as a lightning technician in his career to date, has set up a GoFundMe account to help finance his documentary.
The appeal has raised $1850, which he said had been spent on studio space, a videographer and equipment hire.
A release date has yet to be decided for the film, although Mr Frost said it was almost complete.
“We’ve got a rough cut in place, we’re just really into the final edits,” he said.
“We need to get a few animations done and we should be good to go.”