By Jennifer Pittorino
After sold-out screenings at Monster Fest, Hot Dad Productions will be debuting a special event screening of ‘The Emu War’ at the Sun Theatre.
The comedy-action hybrid is a comedic take on one of Australia’s true stories, co-directed and created by locals Jonathan Schuster and John Campbell, and starring Yarraville local Damian Callinan and Sunshine actor Aaron Gocs.
Based on the infamous Great Emu War of 1932, the film follows a ragtag platoon of soldiers driven into a brutal and bloody battle against Australia’s deadliest flightless beasts.
Haunted by the kidnapping of his son by the Emus, Major Meredith leads the platoon behind enemy lines to confront the Emu leader, the Queen Emu.
“This film is a good combination of action and comedy and gets people to start talking about a real Australian event,” Gocs said.
“The term emu war is what we call a cull of emus , however the real war is different to our depiction. It is nowhere near accurate.”
Gocs said the filmmakers thought it would be funny if the emus fought back, giving the film the comedy it needed.
“There is a lot of action and it was very fun to do those scenes,” he said.
What originally started as a skit seven years ago, has now been turned into a film made on a property in Bendigo.
“It is a project we have been working on together for a while, it was originally going to be a series, but it was eventually made into a movie which took four years to make,” Gocs said.
The movie will premiere at the Sun Theatre on Saturday, June 22, at 7.30pm.
It will be followed with a question and answer session afterwards with the cast and crew.
Details: suntheatre.com.au/wp-cinema/movie/S24EMUWAR/THE+EMU+WAR/
