Dungog Film Festival

Presented by the director, producer and cast

Saturday, 29-May-2010

2:15 PM

at: James Theatre

Credits: Dir: Michael Bond / Scr: Michael Bond / Prod: Michael Bond, Cameron Daddo, JJ Rogers / CoProd: Gerald Brunkskill / Cast: Cameron Daddo, Angie Milliken, Bruce Davison, Patty Yu / 2009

Duration: 82 mins

Tom (Cameron Daddo) is finally beginning to achieve success as a screenwriter. His wife Melony (Angie Milliken) is on the verge of quitting her dream of a successful acting career in Hollywood. Things simply haven’t gone her way and living so far from home is taking its toll. The LA traffic bogs the Australian couple down as they try to make their way to a dinner party. While Tom pays for gas, Mel finds a note penned in feminine hand in the glove compartment. Her mind races, and, for the rest of the journey, she searches for clues. Stopping at the home of Roger, (Bruce Davison), Tom’s writing partner should be a welcome respite. Roger left his first wife for Nina (Patty Yu) and they now raise his two children. Mel, who always wanted children but put her career first, sees Nina living the life she now dreams of. Everything comes to a crisis - family, career, marriage, love – in this impressive, confronting drama. This deft two-handed drama is an assured feature debut from writer and director Michael Bond, in the vein of Cassavetes’ Faces. Born in Western Australia, Bond made his name by writing and directing a string of successful shorts, working in theatre and television. Now, Los Angeles based, Bond has written feature scripts and a television series for Bryan Singer’s Bad Hat Harry. For Passengers, Bond teamed up with fellow producer and lead actor Cameron Daddo; much beloved on Australian screens for decades he’s made his mark in America (David Lynch’s Inland Empire, Towards Darknerss, TV: 24; CSI Miami; Boston Legan; West Wing). A childhood friend of Daddo’s kicked in half the production budget. A childhood friend of Michael’s agreed to cut the movie at his post house in Sydney. Michael’s long time collaborator, Hungarian DP Laszlo Baranyai, flew himself in from Australia to shoot. A great cast completed the puzzle with Angie Milliken taking on the lead role of Mel, opposite Daddo, to shoot this very modern meditation on two people struggling to cope with life far from home.

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