Magic Beach, the film!

Alison Lester’s classic Australian children’s book has been made into an enchanting family film.

Alison Lester’s work has a worldwide audience. She is a most loved children’s author and illustrator with her roots in Gippsland, still living at Nar Nar Goon South in West Gippsland.

Growing up on a farm near Foster in South Gippsland, Alison had an idyllic childhood farm life, riding ponies and exploring the nearby bush. The family holiday house wasn’t too far away at Walkerville South and enabled her and her siblings adventures around the sheltered beaches and coves. She had no idea as she was living this early life that many of her memories and experiences would one day be on the pages of children’s books, which she would illustrate and write.

These books such as “Imagine”, “Are We There Yet?”, “Kissed by the Moon”, “My Farm” and many more have, over the last 30 years or more, become touchstones for children’s lives. So much so that when these children grow up and have their own children they are passed on to a new generation.

One book, “Magic Beach”, one of the most popular of her titles, is very autobiographical in topic. Set in her childhood holiday place of Walkerville South the book presents a playful and dreamy world that transports children to imaginative places of undersea adventures, languid sunny days and magical experiences.

Originally published in 1990, this story is about to have a brand new adventure of its own. It’s now a feature film!

Robert Connolly is an award winning Australian director, producer and screenwriter whose vision it was to imaginatively transfer Alison’s much loved “Magic Beach” into a feature film. Robert is best known as Director and writer of the feature films “Balibo”, “Three Dollars”, “The Bank”, “The Dry” and its sequel. He also produced “Romulus, My Father”, and “The Boys”. Robert directed, co-wrote and co-produced the popular Australian family film “Paper Planes”.

His unique adaptation of the “Magic Beach” cleverly intertwines live action with extraordinary animated stories from ten leading Australian animators: – Susan Danta, Pierce Davison, Jake Duczynski, Emma Kelly, Simon Rippingale, Marieka Walsh, Eddie White, Lee Whitmore, Kathy Sarpi and Oscar nominated Anthony Lucas.

Their work covers traditional 2D, Claymation, stop motion and more. The result is a spellbinding visual delight that translates Alison’s beloved children’s book into a new realm of magical adventure.

The live action filming was actually done on Alison’s “Magic Beach” at Walkerville South over summer of 2024 with Alison excitedly watching on.

Her dog Bigsy even had a bit part! (Bigsy has his very own Alison Lester book, “My Dog Bigsy”).

“Magic Beach” premiered to a sold out crowd at the Astor theatre on the 18th August as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). The film was produced by Arenamedia.

It will be on general exhibition at a later date. The enduring appeal of this ageless tale will delight audiences of all ages.

The film is yet another chapter in the life of her now classic Australian children’s book published in 1990. As with many aspects of Alison’s prolific career, having published around 50 books, it was something she never could foresee at the very beginning. It has led her and her work in many different directions. Several of her books have been translated into stage plays, including “Magic Beach” and her Picture Book of the Year 2005, “Are We There Yet?”.

In 2011 Alison became the inaugural Children’s Laureate, a role that promotes the transformational power of reading, creativity, and story in the lives of young Australians.

She has received many other awards and accolades including a Member of the Order of Australia medal (AM), The Dromkeen Medal (an annual award for those who have advanced children’s literature in Australia) and the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature. In 2019 Alison was included in a series of Australia Post stamps recognising “Australian Legends of Children’s Literature”.

An episode of the popular ABC TV series “Backroads” featured Alison taking host Heather Ewart to explore Magic Beach. Alison says that a highlight of her career was when her book “Are we there yet?” became the first book to be given to an Australian child from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Reading Library - a community based initiative that gives children a free book each month from birth to age five.

“It was a thrill to meet Dolly,” Alison says, “who was very funny and down to earth.”

Alison is a Lifetime Ambassador for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and travels to remote communities supporting them to create books for publishing.

She has held workshops over the past decade to write and illustrate their own stories. She has mentored new authors and assisted several books to be printed. She is inspired to continue this work.

Her love of travel has taken Alison across the globe to writers’ festivals and seminars. Her most enduring dream location though is Antarctica, where she is fortunate to have travelled numerous times and has used as inspiration in her work.