Toomelah (film)

Toomelah is a 2011 Australian drama film written and directed by Ivan Sen. It was shown at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival onMay in the Un Certain Regard program, where it received a twominute long standing ovation. The films story takes place in Toomelah Station, New South Wales.

Ive always wanted to make a film out there because some of my earliest memories come from there. Ive never lived there, but I used to go there all the time But my mother grew up there and all her family come from there so theres always been a connection there. As a result, Ive always wanted to go back there and do something, make this film, a drama. It took a long time work out a method in which to do it, but the story came from a very intense observation period where I went out there for a few weeks and just followed a few teenage boys around and followed the little boy around who played Daniel and wrote down everything I saw, even the dialogue I heard. All of that all came together in the screenplay.Before filming, Sen obtained permission to film in Toomelah from the towns elders. Sen shot most of the scenes himself, as many of the actors in the movie are his personal friends and he believed their acting would be restricted if an entire conventional crew did the filming. ........

Source: Wikipedia