A SHORT film shot in Newcastle over five days in August is turning heads internationally.
Victim, a psychological drama written and directed by Newcastle filmmaker Jye Currie, explores the tears, the terror and the tragedy of domestic violence.
Mr Currie began writing the script in airports, on trains, and on buses while traveling around the world for seven months.
He hopes it will help shine a light on the insidious and devastating social issue that does not discriminate.
"With domestic violence, anyone can suffer from it," he said. "It doesn't matter what the colour of your skin is, your income, your background - anyone can be a victim."
He said the 20-minute film has so far taken out awards at seven international film festivals - in Italy, in New York, Virginia, and Los Angeles in the United States, and another in Canada.
"I wrote the script while I was travelling, and it was originally going to explore alcoholism," he said.
"But when we got home, we went straight into lock down, and I heard about how domestic violence was going through the roof because of everyone being stuck at home during COVID.
"It made me re-evaluate the whole script.
"I thought it seemed like it might be a good time to look at domestic violence, and shine a light on the problem.
"Films are my voice, and I feel if I can use films in a way to explore a social issue, or a topic, and raise awareness to motivate or help or inspire people - that's my goal. That's what I hope all of my films will do."
Victim was filmed entirely in Newcastle.
The Newcastle cast and crew came together in August to shoot the production, which Mr Currie edited concurrently.
It stars Jan Hunt, Patrick Campbell, Sebastian Szeszeran and Jess Farchione - a radio presenter on Hit 106.9.
"We shot the whole thing in five days in August," he said. "It was finished in September.
"It was a quick turn around."
Mr Currie said there was a lot of late nights, passion and effort put into it. It had consumed a lot of his life this year.
"I have submitted it to heaps of film festivals around the world and in Australia, and so far, the response has been phenomenal," he said.
"We have been finalists in eight festivals, and we have won seven so far."
Mr Currie is now developing a script for his first feature film, which he hopes to shoot next year.
"Seeing how well this short film has done well on such a minimal budget, I'm excited to see what we can actually do when we have more of a budget for a feature film."
Find out more at jyecurrie.com/victim2020.
IN THE NEWS:
- Naked for Change calendar 2021 features Hunter florists in their birthday suits
- Teen in hospital after Town Beach, Port Macquarie shark bite
- University of Newcastle Professor Chris Dayas studies links between stress and mood disorders
-
Umpiring decision overshadows thrilling Newcastle cricket tie
- More than 1500 vehicles in the Hunter yet to have faulty Takata airbags repaired
