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New WA film to be shot on Bibbulmun Track wins $1.25 million in funding, and won’t be another Wolf Creek

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Ben O'SheaThe West Australian
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Tim Barretto and Melanie Filler will start shooting End to End, a film set on the Bibbulmun Track, in spring next year.
Camera IconTim Barretto and Melanie Filler will start shooting End to End, a film set on the Bibbulmun Track, in spring next year. Credit: Danella Bevis/The West Australian

When the Bibbulmun Track Foundation heard the 1000km trail was to be the setting of a new feature film about a married couple’s survival, there was some concern it was going to be another Wolf Creek.

Ever since the international success of that 2005 backpacker horror movie starring John Jarratt, it has often seemed as though the Australian screen industry has been obsessed with genre films set in the outback.

So, you can’t blame the Bibbulmun Track Foundation for thinking End to End, from the husband-and-wife team behind the 2022 WA indie hit, Bassendream, might bring the wrong kind of publicity.

Writer-director Tim Barretto and writer-producer Melanie Filler admit there was a moment of hesitation.

“I think the Bibbulmun Track Foundation were relieved that we weren’t doing a horror or someone dying on the track,” Baretto said.

“It was really their first instinct and question as well, but they were relieved that we were doing a love story,” Filler added.

When it comes to survival tales, this one is less literal and more figurative, concerning the survival of a relationship that has started to show cracks after many years.

Sally (Yasmine Caldwell) and Lauren (Cezera Critti-Schnaars) in Bassendream.
Camera IconSally (Yasmine Caldwell) and Lauren (Cezera Critti-Schnaars) in Bassendream. Credit: Supplied/TheWest

It’s a familiar story, and End to End will examine it by depicting a middle-aged couple who make a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage by fulfilling a long-held promise to walk the Bibbulmun Track together.

The success of Bassendream and a belief in the strength of their new project has resulted in Baretto and Miller today being named this year’s recipients of Screenwest’s prestigious West Coast Visions initiative.

Aimed at developing WA filmmakers, the initiative will see the duo receive Screenwest production funding of $750,000 and a further $500,000 from Screen Australia.

“A bigger budget doesn’t really mean that it’s going to be a better movie, but it means we can take care of (the people who are helping us make it),” Baretto said.

Screenwest CEO Rikki Lea Bestall said the field for these year’s West Coast Visions was “incredibly competitive”.

“We look forward to seeing their nuanced characters come to life as they journey through Western Australia’s cinematic locations,” Bestall said.

When it comes to survival tales, this one is less literal and more figurative, concerning the survival of a relationship that has started to show cracks after many years. 
Camera IconWhen it comes to survival tales, this one is less literal and more figurative, concerning the survival of a relationship that has started to show cracks after many years.  Credit: Danella Bevis/The West Australian

Those locations will be scouted in the coming months, with the filmmakers juggling the arrival of a baby in the family with the need to walk parts of the track themselves before shooting commences next year.

Baretto said the film, as the title suggests, will be shot from one end of the track to the other, from Kalamunda to Albany, with extended sequences in some of the towns along the way.

West Coast Visions 2021 recipients David Vincent Smith and Jess Parker premiered their feature He Ain’t Heavy at the Sydney Film Festival last month, with the film set to hit cinemas across Australia in October.

While 2022 recipients Zoe Pepper and Cody Greenwood are currently in post-production on their dark comedy feature Birthright, and last year’s recipients, Miley Tunnecliffe and Kate Separovich, are in pre-production on their supernatural horror, Proclivitas.

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