Shooting recently wrapped for Amie Batalibasi’s independent short film Docked. This is the filmmaker’s latest film starring talented South Sudanese actress Nyawuda Chuol with the awesome Damian Hill who recently wrote and starred in the Aussie feature PAWNO. A dynamic duo and a privilege to collaborate with these two actors.
“‘Docked’ is a story that came to me over a year ago whilst riding my bike to the city – I get random ideas at the most inconvenient times! It was written and shot super quickly and I loved every minute”, says Batalibasi.
It’s a film about a young aspiring South Sudanese actress who works late nights at a bar and meets an older guy who is at a crisis point in his life. They spend the night walking around together in this story about two people from different worlds who find an unlikely connection, one night in Melbourne.
“I was fortunate to have worked with a wonderful and dedicated team on this film including cinematographer Mark Morris, 1st AD Naomi Ball and sound recordist James Browning who all worked on Blackbird. Independent filmmaking is not possible without the support of awesomely talented people who are willing to put their time and efforts into a story so I’m really grateful. Thanks also to my new filmmaking buddies Janise Wild, Rose McNeill-Young, Filip Martinović, Steven Robinson, Laura Brown, Matt Martin, Kevin and our extras who stayed up super late for our shoots and gave it their all”, says Batalibasi.
The film was shot over two nights in Docklands and Footscray. Littlefoot Bar in Footscray provided one of the film’s locations for the bar scenes.
Batalibasi wanted to make something different: “The main thinking behind this film is that I wanted to make something that I haven’t seen before, and have it centre around a woman of colour – exploring race, romance with a bit of comedy in there too. The concept was inspired by the Before Sunrise trilogy and Lost in Translation. The film is 100% independent and 100% shoestring budget but 100% passion!”
If you’d like to follow the journey go to the Docked Facebook page: www.facebook.com/docked