GC bonds help film pathway
MATESHIP and community are helping Gold Coast talent make it in the hustle and bustle of the film industry.
Silver screen stalwart Erin Connor and director Aaron Warwick, both from the Coast, teamed up for the horror movie Beast No More, which screens at next weekend’s Sanctuary Cove Film Festival. The film also features former Home and Away actor Dan Ewing.
The psychological horror is doing the festival rounds as it builds momentum to be launched into a wider market, with Warwick saying once the film is over, it will stick with you.
“It’s a real psychological thriller. I wouldn’t say you’re disturbed by the gore in it, but it stays with you long afterwards because it does shake you,” he said. “It’s more the film that really makes you think long after it’s finished ... that kind of disturbed horror movie. You don’t know where it’s headed and when it gets there, you’re like ‘oh no’.”
Connor and Warwick have worked together on a number of projects and will combine again soon for another horror film in the US.
Connor said her working relationship with Warwick grew out of a strong Gold Coast film community.
“We’ve come full circle, but it’s taken a lot of hard work, having that mateship and knowing that on the Gold Coast, there is this belief system there, that you can actually make it,” she said.
“The world sees it as a film identity, where there is a lot of talented people and it is a little bit of school of hard knocks, where some things work and some things don’t, but geez that Aussie spirit is strong there.”
Warwick said the community that started around a barbecue had flourished into a lot of people working on big productions and their own independent films.
“On the Gold Coast ... nobody is lying to themselves about what they are. We’re all very honest with each other,’’ he said. “If I send something to Erin, she’ll tell me if it’s s*** straight away and there’s no qualms about it, I’ll just move on. It’s good to have that honesty. It helps us grow.”