local news
By Keegan Thomson
T
HE west is a hotbed of local Aussie film making talent and leading the charge at the moment is Penrith-born director Heath Davis, who is now in post-production for his latest film, Book Week. Fresh off the back of his 2016 film, Broke, Mr Davis has turned to his local community for help in the production. “Almost every facet of film has needed community help throughout,” Mr Davis said. “From locations to catering and actors, we’ve used locals as much as we can. “You’ve got a lot of warm, welcoming people in the west who really get excited when there is a film being made out here. It is great to see that passion and excitement in people,” he said. In his production team Mr Davis has utilised local talent with hair and make up artists heralding from Cranebrook and editors and cinematographers coming from the Nepean region. Book Week, has just finished up after 22 days straight of filming
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Heath Davis (right) on the set of Book Week. Photo: Sie Kitts
across western Sydney and the Blue Mountains. The production has had a tight filming schedule because of the low scale budget it is operating on. “We’re working very long hours, lots of back to back shoots with a late night shoot followed up by an early morning shoot, and we’ve only got 22 days of filming so we need to cram a lot into it,” Mr Davis said. The tight filming deadlines and the low budget constraints are just the tip
of the iceberg of challenges thrown at Mr Davis throughout the production. His first film Broke was much smaller in scale and Mr Davis says Book Week “has a lot more going for it”. “This has many more elements at play. Way more people, hundreds of extras, a bigger cast, bigger scenes and you’re dealing with more actors, which can be challenging sometimes,” he joked. “We are getting really great stuff
and I think everyone is going to dig the film.” In 2015 Mel Gibson’s Hollywood war-epic, Hacksaw Ridge, was filmed in western Sydney including Richmond and Bringelly and in 2011 Baz Luhrmann’s film The Great Gatsby was partly produced in the west. Mr Davis thinks there should be more big budget films and Hollywood directors filming in western Sydney. “We want everyone to get behind Book Week because it would be great to bring more television and film productions out west. We’ve got so much talent out here so it would be great to feature it on a broader scale,” Mr Davis said. “More of the Australian demographic lives out here so we should want to make films for the audience who lives out west. “There are some great organic stories and characters out here with voices that need to be heard,” he said. Book Week is now heavily into the editing stages and is scheduled to hit cinemas in the first half of 2019 after screening at film festivals around the country. You can follow all the movie madness on facebook at https://www. facebook.com/bookweekfilm/.
Nepean News 15 February 2018 Issue 220
Film proudly made in the west
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