Oaks Grand, Gladstone
November 7th, 6 – 8pm
Screenworks, Jungle Entertainment, Midwinter Films, Screen Australia and Screen Queensland present: A look into the development of Croak, a feature film set in the regional city of Gladstone.
The internationally acclaimed award-winning Director Nash Edgerton (Mr Inbetween, Gringo) has teamed up with Christiaan and Connor Van Vuuren (Bondi Hipsters, Soul Mates) to deliver a development lab for the feature film Croak.
Come along to hear these brilliant and comedic minds when they reveal what’s involved in creating a phenomenal film; they will reflect on their career achievements and successes and give advice on what goes into creating the very best stories for the screen.
Other guest speakers include:
Jungle Entertainment’s Chloe Rickard and Bridget Callow-Wright
About Croak
Croak is an original concept written by Shane Brady and co-written by Priscilla Cameron for Jungle Entertainment and Midwinter Films with Christiaan Van Vuuren and Connor Van Vuuren as directors and developed with investment from Screen Queensland and Screen Australia.
When a giant killer toad wakes from hibernation, folks in the nearby mining town mysteriously begin to croak.
A gang of teenagers living in a mining boomtown discover their biology teacher is harbouring a dark secret that is about to unleash death and destruction on the area.
Croak is a comedy science fiction creature feature with a big heart and green tinge. When coal-seam gas fracking forces Josh and Stacy’s family off their farm, their Mum takes a job in Galston, a booming coal and gas port. Josh, a sensitive nature boy, and Stacy, a knockabout country girl, are pitched into a new school in a new town amidst strange goings-on: pets vanishing and cars mysteriously crushed in the night.
Comedy Science Fiction / 95 min
Nash Edgerton is a writer, director, producer, stuntman, actor and editor.
He has directed nine multi-award winning short films, including Spider and Bear that have wowed audiences and entered cult status worldwide.
His feature films include The Square, an Australian film noir and the comedy thriller Gringo, starring David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton and Amanda Seyfried.
Edgerton is currently directing the second season of the highly acclaimed FX series Mr Inbetween.
The Van Vuuren Bros are the creative team behind viral hits such as The Fully Sick Rapper, Bondi Hipsters and Kid in Cockpit, which have collectively received more than 11 million hits worldwide. Connor completed film school at UTS, and is also an experienced actor and stunt performer who has worked on productions such as Alien: Covenant, The Wolverine and The Hobbit. Christiaan, however, moved into filmmaking after being told he had tuberculosis and was confined to a hospital room for six months, where he created a series of viral videos based on his online alter ego, The Fully Sick Rapper.
Together, the Van Vuuren Bros have since created work for a range of Australian television networks. Their first attempt at a long-form narrative, entitled SICK!, aired on MTV and earned them a 2012 ADG Award nomination for Best Direction in a Television Comedy. The Van Vuuren brothers are currently in development on a series adaptation of SICK! for the US. Their work co-writing and directing 37 episodes of Bondi Hipsters, earned them a 2013 ADG Award for Best Direction in an Original Online Project, and the entire series was picked up for broadcast by ABC2 and JUICETV (New Zealand).
In 2014, their multi-platform comedy series Soul Mates, a spin-off of Bondi Hipsters produced with Ludo Studio, aired on the ABC. Soul Mates follows two friends who are continually drawn together across the course of human history: as prehistoric cavemen, as 1980s Kiwi Assassins, and as the Bondi Hipsters. Soul Mates II, the second series, screened on ABC and ABC iView in 2016.
In addition to their own creative projects, they directed a number of sketches in The Elegant Gentlemen’s Guide to Knife Fighting for the ABC and Jungle. In the brand funded space, the Van Vuuren Bros have created work for brands including Coke, Sony, Ikea, AMEX, Unilever, and a short format series for Cadbury/MTV that won an Astra Award for Most Outstanding Use of STV in a Consumer Advertising Campaign.
Christiaan and Connor are currently in development on a number of television and feature projects.
