Project Detail

Letters from Australia

Letters from Australia
Letters from Australia

Synopsis

An immersive 360 film, based on letters home written by two Cornish Boys from west Cornwall, who emigrated to Australia in 1864. The recently discovered letters, which provide the inspiration, overarching visual motif and compelling lyrics of the piece, cry out with homesickness, loneliness and separation, and the everyday challenges and triumphs of their pioneering life in an evolving nation. The boys had their mining and farming skills to fall back on; they also brought their culture too, particularly their deep chapel faith.
The Cornish Diaspora of the 19th century saw 250,000 people leave Cornwall, fleeing poverty and seeking opportunities across the globe. Approximately 10% of the population of South Australia, and over 3% of Australia as a whole, has significant Cornish ancestry and the settlement of the areas within of South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales are sometimes referred to as ‘Little Cornwall’.
Official Selection Cornwall Film Festival 2024 - Festival World premiere
Official Selection Adelaide Fringe 2025 - Festival International premiere

Details

Year
2024
Type of film
XR / Immersive
Running time
20 min
Format
360 immersive full dome production
Director
Dave Hotchkiss
Producer
Dave Hotchkiss, Nick Hart
Executive Producer
Martin Eddy, Dave Hotchkiss, Nick Hart, Miles Sloman
Editor
Dave Hotchkiss
Screenwriter
Nick Hart
Director of Photography
Dave Hotchkiss
Production Designer
Dave Hotchkiss
Sound
Nick Hart
Composer
Nick Hart
Principal cast
Bec Applebee, Steve Jacobs, Miles Sloman, Martin Eddy
Musicians
Elowen Waters, Richard Trethewey, Neal Jolly, Nick Hart, Liam H

Production Status

Page updates

This page was last updated on 30th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Spacewoman Spacewoman

Director: Hannah Berryman

Year: 2024

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle.<br /> Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all.<br /> At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? <br /> This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. <br /> Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere<br /> Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

64 Days | the crowd and its leaders 64 Days: The Insurrection Playbook

Director: Nick Quested

Year: 2025

Documenting the January 6 assault on the US Capitol - Filmmaker Nick Quested was embedded with the Proud Boys, and other far-right groups during the months leading up to the insurrection, capturing exclusive footage of figures including Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes that was used as evidence in hearings of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, and as part of their larger investigation.

A French woman kisses her son before he is evacuated on a bus out of war-torn Paris during World War 2. Ghosts

Director: Katia Lom

Year: 2024

A woman at the end of her life wanders lost in the woods where her memories find her. Seamlessly blending historical archive footage with dramatizations, the narrative explores how nature connects us to our past.