Feature films
BORN AND BRED
“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.”
- Mark Twain
Inspired by real life yarns.
By Samantha Alexis Laughton.
LOGLINE
A king from the desert, the ‘Horse from Huckitta', is walked along remote, outback stock routes by a group of Arrernte ringers, to take out “the race that stops the nation”, the iconic Melbourne Cup.
SYNOPSIS
The King Ingoda story. A stallion 'by a champion sire', born at Huckitta Station, in the Central Australian desert, is trained up by an Arrernte Jillaroo, Jeanie. At just two-years of age, the "Horse from Huckitta" and his young breaker, Jeanie, take off on an epic adventure across the Simpson Desert - a life risking journey along the notorious outback stock route, Binns Track, to catch a ride down South on The Ghan, from Oodnadatta. The 'deadly duo' meet up with cattle drovers, Freddie and Aubrey at Stradbroke House, Ross Trevor, accompanied by famed race trainer Austin. They continue 'the walk' along the Overland Stock Route, bound for Flemington and a chance to win the iconic Melbourne Cup in 1922.
*Currently entered into the AACTA Regional Landscapes Pitch.
THE BOUNDARY RIDER
“I am The Boundary Rider, somewhere between life and death. I live. I die
- I ride.”
All stills photography courtesy of Honey Ant Productions, cinematography by Naithan Wiles (2024).
Inspired by real life events.
By Samantha Alexis Laughton.
LOGLINE
A mysterious captive arrives at an outback station igniting the will of a slave being held there by a brutal keeper.
SYNOPSIS
Awenke, a Central Desert ‘boundary rider’, is forced to maintain the endless fence line of an outback cattle station ruled by a brutal Boss Man. The work is repetitive and relentless, until a mysterious captive, Angkwere, is brought in, triggering a series of paranormal events. As reality begins to blur and the Boss Man’s violent tendencies erupt, Awenke with the help of Angkwere, must harness the power of the Dreaming in order to survive.
HISTORY
“This story is inspired by real life experiences of over 230 recorded Arrernte and Central Desert Stockwomen that worked Australian outback cattle stations from the late 1800s until the 1970s as ‘boundary riders’. These women were held against their free will as the property of government appointed land owners - Boss Men. Their stories and records have been lost to colonial history.”
*Previous runner up for the 2021 Sundance Merata Mita Fellowship, top three selection in the 2021 AACTA Regional Landscapes Pitch & top ten in the 2026 ‘Wake In Fright’ initiative.
FURNACE
By Rebecca Parker
LOGLINE
A crematorium worker, stretched between her volatile young son and her ageing mother, begins to suspect that her child is inhabited by something that survived the furnace.
SYNOPSIS
Hannah makes a living by carefully and respectfully disposing the dead. As a crematorium technician, she has handled victims, abusers, the elderly, the sick - all reduced, in the end, to the same ash. It’s quiet efficient work; a system that’s controlled, contained and final. At home, nothing is. Hannah struggles to care for her narcissistic mother slipping into dementia and her increasingly uncontrollable eleven year old son, Eli.
Eli is intelligent, articulate and manipulative. Expelled from school and prone to violent outbursts, Eli defies easy explanation. His diagnosis offers a framework, but not an answer. Hannah can’t tell whether he’s struggling — or choosing to behave in this way.
When the body of a dead prisoner arrives at the crematorium, Hannah oversees the burn. It should be routine, but it isn’t. What starts as a creeping suspicion - that something has passed into her son - becomes a far more disturbing question: is Hannah witnessing possession, or finally seeing her son as he really is?
As Eli’s behaviour escalates toward something irreversible, Hannah is forced into an unthinkable position — one that blurs the line between care and control, protection and destruction. Because she knows, better than most, what happens at the end of the line.
SPLINTER
Based on a true story.
By Rebecca Parker.
LOGLINE
The carefree bush childhood of twelve-year-old, Rufus, and his adopted brother, Splinter, is brought to an abrupt end when government officials try to separate the boys from the only family they know - each other.
SYNOPSIS
It is the early 1940s and the threat of Japanese attack and invasion looms large in Northern Australia. Oblivious to the impact that the war will have on their family, twelve-year-old Rufus, and his adopted brother, Splinter, spend their days riding horses, shooting magpie geese and larking about in the bush surrounding their father’s remote gold mine. When their father, Duncan, travels overseas to fight the Japanese, he leaves the boys in the care of an aunt and Splinter’s vulnerable status as a part Aboriginal boy quickly comes into full view of the hostile white society around them.
TELEVISION SERIES
DO GOOD
6 × 1 hr Crime Drama
Written & Created by Rebecca Parker. Currently in development with Broadstory.
LOGLINE
A prison psychologist’s pursuit of the truth puts her on a collision course with her detective husband and the system they’ve both sworn to uphold.
SYNOPSIS
Gloria and Jeff are raising three unruly teenagers, whilst working in different arms of the troubled Northern Territory justice system. Gloria is a prison psychologist for youth in detention - a fiercely liberal mother who powers through life on coffee, conviction and the belief that she’s making the world a better place. Jeff is NT Police’s star homicide detective - ambitious, charming and publicly regarded as one of the ‘good guys’. Gloria and Jeff love each other - but they believe in very different versions of justice.
When a severed human limb is found dumped on the Stuart Highway, Jeff is tasked with finding a body (and a killer) under intense political pressure to close the case. At the same time, Gloria begins questioning the arrest of one of her clients - an Indigenous teenager charged with attempted murder on scant evidence.
As the series unfolds, the two cases converge, forcing Gloria and Jeff into direct conflict and on opposite sides of the law. Gloria comes to see Jeff as proof of the system’s failures, while Jeff begins to see Gloria as a threat to his children and everything he’s built. So what happens when the person you’re married to becomes someone you no longer recognise?