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Tuesday, 16 February, 2021
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PROPERTY GUIDE
Hills film debut By Taylah Eastwell
Director Michael Bentham on set filming Disclosure.
Picture: SUPPLIED
scape and how they create their own drama”. “As an outsider, from the UK, I noticed the Dandenong Ranges have these real contrasts in the landscape. You’ve got this temperate rainforest with tall mountain ash gums everywhere and then peppered among that amazing bush are these pockets of European archi-
tecture,” he said. Mr Bentham said the visuals for Disclosure are built around a swimming pool, located at a private residence, that “looks like it has landed from Italy or Spain”. Continued on page 5
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“As a dad I thought this was an appalling outcome, and as a filmmaker and storyteller I found it fascinating. In a nutshell, the film explores the genesis of a contemporary witch hunt,” Mr Bentham explained. Mr Bentham said the Dandenong Ranges were chosen due to the “real contrasts in land-
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An award-winning feature film shot entirely in the Dandenong Ranges will make its debut onto Australian cinema screens later this month, beginning with a premiere at Belgrave’s Cameo cinema. The Australian drama, titled Disclosure, was written and directed by The Patch resident Michael Bentham. Mr Bentham said the movie was mostly shot in The Patch, and one scene in Kallista. Inspired by real events, Disclosure tells the story of four parents who go to war over an allegation of abuse. Mr Bentham said the narrative centres on two families, and showcases talented Australian actors including Geraldine Hakewill and Mark Leonard Winter. “When a four-year-old girl makes an allegation against the son of a politician, an attempt by the children’s parents to resolve the situation soon degenerates into a vicious confrontation. There are two key areas the film explores. The first asks the very simple question, do we believe the stories that young children tell? Which is a really important cultural question,” Mr Bentham explained. “The second core theme came out of research I did around the back issue, which revealed that very often, particularly in small communities, the parents of the perpetrator begin calling in the support of their friends and creating alliances in an effort to discredit the disclosure made by the victim. I really wanted to explore the toxicity around that,” Mr Bentham said. Mr Bentham said the late Emeritus Professor Freda Briggs’s wrote a detailed submission for a government enquiry into the issue, which “identified a pattern where the community turns against the family of the victim who then feel they have no choice but to leave the community”.