Bellingen creatives enter international SmartFone Flick Fest Coffs Coast Coffs Coast - popup ad Coffs Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - August 9, 2024 Doctor Time’s main cast and crew: Jason Brown, Nya Ennis, Luke Goody, Raji Renshaw and Steve Grace. DOCTOR Time, a film by Bellingen creatives Steve Grace and Jason Brown, is among the early entries for the worldwide SmartFone Flick Fest (SF3), which is now in its 10th year. Filmed in Bellingen and Sawtell in collaboration with Raji Renshaw, a 15-year-old boy with Down Syndrome, Doctor Time started out as a project for Raji’s Year 8 class at Chrysalis Steiner school in Thora. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au Raji chose film as his medium for the project and asked his friends from local theatre groups Liberty Theatre and Full-On Theatre to join him in the cast. Jason and Steve mentored Raji and shared the roles of producer and director. Once completed, Jason discovered that because the film was shot on an iPhone, it qualified for the international smartphone festival. “It’s very left of field and interesting how it all came together,” Jason said. “Sparked by the initial school project it quickly grew in scale and grandeur, involving community and quite a team to pull Raji’s vision together. “This was more than just a simple short film; inclusion and diversity added to the complexity of this project.” Doctor Time is described by Steve and Jason as a quirky, colourful and fun adventure. “This is a wacky story of friendship, changing realities and the rise of teen misfits finally having their turn to be heroes.” The premise of Doctor Time as a film and a creative project, was to give a young person who is typically underrepresented, or often not given a go, their time in the limelight. Raji stars as Doctor Time whose gang fights to stay in control, realise the power of their minds and save the day amidst a whirlwind of uncertainty and chaos. “This was a chance for the boy with Down Syndrome to be the superhero,” Jason said. “Steve and I worked closely with Raji to record his ideas and vision for the film. “A lot of the story was very creative and wild, we then had to work out how to make it possible.” The innovative band Tralala Blip, an electronic pop collective, contributed the soundscape and musical elements. “We are really proud of the fact that half the main cast are youth with disabilities, the sound scape is also produced by a band with two people with Down Syndrome.” For more information about Flick Fest go to sf3.com.au. By Andrea FERRARI Filming Doctor Time at Sawtell. Creative and star of Doctor Time, Raji Renshaw, and his mentor Steve. Filming the headquarters scene for Doctor Time.
