Lucky Country

Debut theatrical feature film of actor Toby Wallace.

Director Kriv Stenders and production designer Lisa Stonham previously collaborated on Boxing Day (2007). Stonham also designed the titles for Stenders' Blacktown (2005) and The Illustrated Family Doctor (2005).

Writer Andy Cox's official writer's statement for the film reads: "Australia is not the country of my birth, but I've come to regard it as my home. Having moved from country to country most of my life I've finally found myself able to say with conviction that this is where I belong. And yet how can anyone claim to really 'belong' in one of most inhospitable terrains on earth. It was after the chance find of an old settlers' cabin in the woods that I imagined a place where comforts had been stripped away, where 'life was not an adventure', and into that situation put a man for whom it was an adventure and a dream - an idealistic father and his young family facing the stark reality of the bush, out of place, trying to make it their own, staving off the fear that we're little more than topsoil on a land that fundamentally doesn't want us here. Each of the characters in Dark Frontier (2009) is searching for a home. Henry, Carver and Jimmy, a surrogate family after fighting a war; Sarah, consumed by the certainty of the place she left behind and the future it promised; Nat, hoping for any sign of God in the landscape. Even Connolly, planting the flag of future prosperity and nation building, yet wrong-footed by the impenetrable certainty of a young boy. And all the while the land walks to its own tune. Somewhere in all of this I've tried to find something about the essence of this remarkable country and the ideals and dreams that have come to shape it as a nation - the place I now call home.

Director Kriv Stenders's Official Director's statement for this film states: "My last two features (Blacktown (2005) and Boxing Day (2007)) were micro-budget, digital dramas, both set in modern, urban Australia. I had been searching for a broader canvas to work on when John Maynard (executive producer) sent me the script for Dark Frontier (2009). I was instantly captivated by the lean, muscular structure of Andy Cox's script, its rich, vividly drawn characters and its wonderfully wide-reaching thematic scope. I was extremely excited by the bold ambition and scale of the story. After my first read, I could immediately see a way to make it into the kind of classically entertaining, exciting and gripping "thrillers" that I had grown up with. And at the heart of it was the story of two children, brother and sister, thrust into a world in which they have to make a terrifying series of choices. It was finally this resonant aspect of Andy's story that grabbed hold of me and simply wouldn't let go. Dark Frontier (2009) gave me the opportunity to apply all that I had learnt about working fast and intuitively to something that was a distinctive genre film - a psychological thriller. I wanted to shoot in the same visceral and immediate style that I had developed over my last two films, and use that freedom and energy to take the audience on a compelling and thrilling ride. We have such a rich, vibrant history and such a diverse and visually stunning landscape that I think we've only scratched the surface of the kinds of stories we can tell to audiences both here and overseas. Making Dark Frontier (2009) has been an incredible creative experience and has allowed me the opportunity to continue to develop a body of work and evolve as a director.