HUNTER filmmaker Stuart McBratney's new creation Don't Read This on a Plane offers travellers grounded by COVID-19 the opportunity to fly around the world from the comfort of their couch.
University of Newcastle lecturer in transmedia storytelling, writer and director McBratney describes his third feature film as a "travel filled drama with a dash of comedy".
It follows Newcastle-based novelist Jovana Fey - played by Sophie Desmarais - whose first two books were commercial failures.
Fey hopes her third, Don't Read This on a Plane - which chronicles a woman's dalliances with 100 women - will bring acclaim.
She learns upon checking into the first hotel of her three-week European book tour her publisher has gone bankrupt, leading her to hitch hike and sleep rough to give readings while trying to project success.
"A great deal of it was inspired by the experience of making [my last film] Pop Up and being invited to film festivals all over the world," McBratney said.
"Some of them were inspiring and incredible and some of the greatest experiences of my life, others were just absolute abominations they were so poorly organised.
"There's that lived experience of a creative person chasing their dreams and asking 'How badly do I want this?'"
He was influenced by films such as Lost In Translation to create a piece that allowed the viewer to become involved in a character's story, connect with their humanity and explore the "emotional tone of their situation", "but did not take itself too seriously and still had moments of lightness".
He filmed in France, Italy, Portugal, Greece, The Netherlands, Germany, Romania, Hungary and Australia, featuring beautiful bookstores.
"Hopefully there's an opportunity for people to experience that armchair travelling sensation. COVID is an absolutely horrible thing, but maybe this will give people relief from it and the chance to travel all over the world and vicariously have an adventure."
The film has been selected for Los Angeles' Dances With Films festival, which will also be its world premiere.
It will be screened at 7pm AEST on August 29 followed by a question and answer session and 2.30pm on September 1.
McBratney shot the film in three blocks.
The crew filmed in seven countries, flying every two or four days, for one month. They then went to Romania, where the production company is based, to film interior shots for a month. McBratney moved to China for 10 months, before returning to Romania for another week of filming and to Newcastle to film at NUspace, with Nobbys Lighthouse in the background.
But it was not a holiday.
"I can never relax very easily because I'm self funding it," he said.
"I'm looking at my bank balance and trying to work out my best creative approach to a certain scene, or planning the next location."
He spent lockdown filming pick-up shots. "I probably did the last piece of really creative stuff six months ago. It's a bit like limping over the finishing line, rather than running into a ribbon in slow-motion with a big grin on my face."
Tickets: dwfla.com/2020/movies/dont-read-this-on-a-plane/
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