SYNOPSIS
In a remote part of Stalin's war-torn Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic, Grigori, Manager of munitions FACTORY293, faces the realities of his existence. Despite the infatuation of his female factory workforce, he is drawn to increasingly melancholic thoughts – Stalin has abandoned him. With a howling blizzard outside, the factory's power is suddenly cut, interrupting Grigori's intent to take decisive action. In a flurry to restore the power before the inspectors arrive, Grigori directs two of his machinists into the raging blizzard to investigate.
ABOUT
When people are forced to act like machines, malfunctions occur. Amidst the static-ridden propaganda radio broadcasts and the disorientating whitewash of the blizzard, this truth emerges and confronts our characters.
Despite the story’s blizzard-swept Russian setting, FACTORY293 was made entirely in sunny Perth, Western Australia (WA). Produced by MEANING MAKER and DIGITAL MEDIA ARTS, this intentionally ambitious project was designed to throw this emergent production team into the deep end, testing and expanding their capacities across all facets of filmmaking.
Within WA’s fledgling screen industry, nothing quite of this scale and nature had been undertaken before and thus, the project was largely an experiment that the team was confident, but not always certain was achievable. But the team was determined to showcase their capacity to tell stories set in any time or place; within worlds that must be designed and built from the ground up, while maintaining high production values on a shoestring budget.
By demonstrating this possibility, it is the production team’s hope that the WA screen industry finds the confidence to broaden its narrative-pallet, becoming a more dexterous story telling base.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE - factory293.com
FACEBOOK - facebook.com/factory293
TWITTER - twitter.com/factory293
FLICKR - flickr.com/photos/factory293
STARRING
Myles Pollard
Lizzie Schebesta
Ben O'Toole
Nicola Bartlett
Christie Sistrunk
Katya Shevtsov
CREW
Written & Directed by Roderick MacKay
Produced by Justin McArdle and Roderick MacKay
Executive Producer Kurt Mauritz
Co-Producer Michael Searle
DOP Andrew Gordon
Digital Visual Effects Supervisor Andrew Gordon
Lighting Designer Henry Whitehead
Production Design by Louise Brady
Costume Design by Holly Boyton
Sound Design by Josh Hogan
Score by Steve Richter
Edited by Roderick MacKay
Colourist Dominic Pearce
Special Effects by Jeremy Shaw
Special Effects Makeup by Freena Hamilton
Hair and Makeup by Yvonne Cilia Freena Hamilton
Production Publicist Kirby Scanlan
Supported by ScreenWest
Special thanks to the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and the Film & Television Institute
