Ryde film takes centre stage

Short film Sammy follows a young girl displaced from war who struggles to build a hot-air balloon so she and her little brother can find their parents.

Coco Jack Gillies stars in short film Sammy. Pictures: supplied

• Hills dads create their own social network
• Adorable pups steal the show

A short film made in Ryde has received global attention since its release.

Sammy follows a young girl displaced from war who struggles to build a hot-air balloon so she and her little brother can find their parents.

Sammy was written and directed by Dana-Lee Mierowsky Bennett and filmed at the TAFE campus in Ryde.

The film is making waves on the festival circuit.

The short film has already been selected for a number of film festivals and has been picked up for international distribution.

Executive producer Enzo Tedeschi, who lives in Ryde, said the film’s script intrigued from the start and he “felt it had something to say” about the plight of asylum seekers.

“The young cast was interesting, having a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story from the point of view of quite young characters was quite fresh,” he said.

The film follows a girl who tries to build a hot-air balloon so she and her brother canfind their parents.

The film stars Coco Jack Gillies, who has also appeared in Mad Max: Fury Road, Maya the Bee Movie and Oddball and the Penguins, in the lead role.

“Coco Gillies is just a pro beyond her years,” Tedeschi said.

The film has already won awards including Best Family Short at The Silicon Beach Film Festival and Best Child Actress for Gillies at the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.

“As a lot of these short film projects often do when they’re self-funded, they have this really, really, epically long gestation period … so it feels like it’s been forever in the making so to see it actually land and do well and be received and pick up the occasional award is quite gratifying,” Tedeschi said.