North Queensland duo roll red carpet on first feature-length film with Christmas movie Santa Hunters
After sitting in Townsville high school film classes, two filmmakers just presented their first feature-length movie, now available on streaming sites for the world to see.
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What started in film and television classes at high school and within the walls of Townsville cinemas like Reading Cinema and Warrina Cineplex has resulted in two filmmakers releasing their first feature-length movie to the world.
Former Ryan Catholic College students Richard Jamze and Natalie Rose hosted their own premiere recently in Brisbane City for the showing of their Christmas film ‘Santa Hunters’.
The film is a mockumentary-style movie that follows three Aussies who are hunting for Santa Clause.
Their feature-length film which is now available to rent via streaming site, was first concocted by Natalie when she wrote a 10-minute play version of the story for university.
“It did really well,” Richard said.
“The audience loved it and got a lot of laughs so we thought we had something there.”
The couple and ultimate filmmaking duo met at high school where they say their movie-making skills started to develop.
“My first love was going to Reading Cinemas particularly because my family helped build it and I became obsessed with movies from there,” Richard said.
“(Ryan) had a lot of good arts programs and film and television programs which helped me get where I am today because it really stoked the flames of what I do now.”
Natalie lived and grew up in Townsville noting that Warrina and Birch Carroll & Coyle in the city were behind her love for movies.
Richard said after making short films with friends at school, and his parents buying him his first camera he went on to join Griffith Film School in Brisbane, with Natalie following a similar path by attending UQ University.
The premiere which took place at the Palace Barracks Cinema in Brisbane last week, saw the pair’s family and friends come down along with a sold out audience of 200 people.
Despite the premiere being a raging success, Richard expressed nerves in the lead up.
“Nat handled it better than me, I was terrified going into it,” he said.
“People were laughing all the way through, they were crying at the end, they enjoyed it,” he said.
“We have photos of a standing ovation which is insane for a silly Santa movie but I’ll take it.”
“I had such a great time, my mum got to come down to see it so I was ecstatic to share it with her,” Natalie said.
She added that despite it being a festive film, it may be more directed at a mature audience unless the kids have a deep passion for mockumentaries.
When asked what advice they would give to current students that have a keen interest in making films one day, Richard said it was his mother’s advice that he often turned to.
“Something I think about a lot from my mum is this idea that you have to be persistent,” he said.
“It’s the people who stay in it the longest that get there in the end.
“Maybe your first movie is a tiny Indie like this or maybe you get lucky and get a big budget which is nice, but either way it’s about sticking around.”
Natalie said it was the “community” around them that helped get them to where they are.
“To reach out to friends who were also interested in making their first film and doing it together in such a collaborative effort,” she said.
“We get credit as filmmakers but if it wasn’t for every single person who showed up and were generous with their time, energy and effort we wouldn’t have a film to be a filmmaker of.”
With a successful start to their feature-length film careers, the pair have already finalised their next movie and Natalie is scheduled to direct a theatre play in February.
Santa Hunters is available to stream now on Amazon Prime.
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Originally published as North Queensland duo roll red carpet on first feature-length film with Christmas movie Santa Hunters
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