Giving a nod to Sunbury’s history as an iconic location for live music in the 1970s is a short movie by Darren L. Downs.
Starring Sunbury actor Steven Sammut, and made with the help of fellow local Joshua Little (first assistant director), Sunbury follows fictitious band Trend as its members head to the 1973 Sunbury Rock Festival.
Melbourne-based writer and movie director Mr Downs says: “Sunbury is a deeply personal project that intertwines my passion for music and my enduring love for Australia’s cultural history.
“The movie reflects my fascination with a bygone Australiana, and my commitment to bringing raw, authentic, and compelling stories to the screen – stories that are steeped in humanity, shaped by the past, and resonant with the struggles and triumphs of real life.”
With the band’s car having broken down on a rural dirt track – the movie was shot in Diggers Rest – and determined to make their midday set, the group sets off on foot under a blazing sun. However, tensions between band members start to surface.
“As someone with a long history in music, both as a writer and guitarist, I have an intimate understanding of these characters, their friction, their egos and the unspoken camaraderie that comes with life in a band,” says Mr Downs.
Sunbury is the third in a series of films, written and produced over a 12-year period by Downs, all set against Australian suburban and rural settings over different time periods.
“Each movie features male characters grappling with mental health struggles, turbulent upbringings, peer pressure, sexual identity and in Sunbury, the scars of war,” says Mr Downs.
In 2022, he co-wrote and directed the web series, Flats produced by Princess Pictures (Summer Heights High, Superwog) and with funding from Screen Australia, it screened on the YouTube channel ‘Slap Bang’, as well as youth streaming service ‘Pedestrian Television’ through 9Now.
Sunbury has been entered into key film festivals across Australia, and following the festival run the movie will get its public release online. Only then will we find out if Trend got to perform before 40,000 people at the 1973 Sunbury Rock festival.
Mr Downs is currently working on two TV drama pitches with Beyond Entertainment.
Sunbury
- Written and Directed by Darren L. Downs
- Director of Photography – Stuart Jaymes ACS
- Sound Recordist – Jay Stark Camera
- Assistant/First Assistant Director – Joshua Little
- Colourist – Cecil Miller
- Edited by Darren L. Downs
Cast:
- Mark Adams (Dennis)
- Huxley Forras (Barry)
- Callum Jean-Thomas (Lawrence)
- Josh Kay-Schulz (David)
- Steven Sammut (Phil)
Produced by OFFBEAT Pictures Melbourne.
