Dungog Film Festival

Presented the director and lead cast

Sunday, 30-May-2010

1:15 PM

at: James Theatre

Credits: Dir: Jeremy Hartley Sims / Scr: David Roach / Prod: Bill Leimbach / CoProd: Jeremy Sims, David Roach / EP: Ross J. Thomas, Greg Rains, John Lee / Cast: Brendan Cowell, Harrison Gilbertson, Steve Le Marquand / 2010, Rated M

Duration: 120 mins

Jeremy Hartley Sims' acclaimed second feature is based on the true story of mining engineer Oliver Woodward (Brendan Cowell). This poignant and confronting film about real Aussie mateship in the face of adversity is set in 1916, during The Great War. Screenwriter David Roach adapted the film from Woodward's war diaries.

It's 1916 and Woodward finally succumbs to community pressure and signs up, leaving his fresh-faced young love Marjorie (newcomer Bella Heathcote) to join the Australian 1st Tunnellers on the Western Front. Deep in the mud, beneath German lines, Woodward and his platoon (a wonderful supporting cast includes Gyton Grantley, Steve La Marquand, Aden Young and Harrison Gilbertson), of top secret Australian tunnellers, struggle to maintain and extend a leaking, labyrinthine tunnel system packed with a massive amount of explosives that is literally beneath hill 60. Woodward soon learns that being a leader in this hideous war is not just about commanding and protecting his men, it's also about being prepared to sacrifice them too. This deeply moving film, in the vein of Peter Weirs' Gallipoli, is a stunning achievement for Sims and his crew.

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