Armed with a pawn shop camera, a cast of small town players and a heart bigger than Phar Lap, a Northern Territory director has proven you don’t need grants to shoot a feature film.
Or expensive equipment.
Or trained actors.
All director Phil O’Brien needed was a solid script and enough goodwill from a small northern township to see it through to a final cut.
“It was like climbing up Mount Everest in a pair of thongs,” said Mr O’Brien.
“Sometimes, every step you took it just got harder and harder.”
What finally emerged was an epic ode to a remote Australian coastal paradise, called The Boat With No Name, shot on location in East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.
A red carpet screening was held at the Gove Boat Club near the town of Nhulunbuy earlier this year, and garnered rave reviews from the locals – but the film nearly didn’t happen.
Mr O’Brien, a fourth generation Territorian who is also an author, musician, former croc farmer and campfire raconteur, had his script ready to go, but no funding to back it up.
“I got knocked back by every grant body known to mankind,” he said.
“I got no money, no film crew, but I got the story, right?
“Any rational thinking person, at that stage, would’ve just given up and just gone and got a job somewhere. But that’s where I said, nup – the story has to be told.”
When he put the call out to get it funded, the East Arnhem community backed it in.
Community radio station Gove FM president “Rotten” Robbie Stewart is listed as co-producer in the credits, among the local businesses who helped bankroll the troppo production to the tune of around $10,000.
“I just felt that the legacy of this film would be such a wonderful investment into the community,” Mr Stewart said.
“Once it’s developed, it’s in the can, it’s history, and it will live long… it’s a time capsule.”
The film stars what appears to be about a third of Nhulunbuy’s population, from the pool lifeguard to the print shop owner.
“The brilliance of this is the very fact that it’s all local,” said Mr Stewart.
“Luckily there was a lot of us that were just happy to pimp ourselves out for next to nothing, apart from the glory of seeing our name next to a picture on a movie.”
The film follows the exploits of a well-meaning ragamuffin named Slate, played by Mr O’Brien, who tries to use a hand-me-down boat to start up a fledgling tourism company.
Despite its low budget, The Boat With No Name makes use of its stunning surrounds, and captures the ethos of the East Arnhem region: Indigenous and non-Indigenous people (Yolngu and balanda) working together to create something new.
“I wanted to do two things in this film,” said Mr O’Brien.
“I wanted to show black and white people just living together, having fun and taking on the journey of life together.
“And the second thing was to show a window into this fantastic area – the scenery, the characters … because not many Australians ever come here.”
Milminyina ‘Valarie’ Dhamarrandji, a Yolngu lady from the community of Gunyangara, said she acted in the film to leave a legacy for her great-grandchildren.
“This is the 21st century, and we should all be united, Yolngu and balanda,” Ms Dhamarrandji said.
Another actor in the film, Mike Rogers, who plays a comedian who always laughs at his own jokes, said backing a project like Mr O’Brien’s was a natural for the East Arnhem region.
“The beauty of this community is everyone does get involved. Everyone’s got everyone’s back,” he said.
“It’s how we are. And take note of where we live – it’s a beautiful part of the world.”
You can watch The Boat With No Name here.
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