FEATURE Story
Lions, Tigers & Bears. Oh My! – The Lost Tiger
Australian film-making roars back to life this year with a carnivorous classic – The Lost Tiger. It’s the first animated feature to be written and directed by an Indigenous woman, Chantelle Murray and it hits the cinemas on February 27.
Murray, a Bardi woman originally from Broome, says the film is all about “belonging” and is relevant to all of us.
“When I was creating it I was thinking of my father, who has a Swiss/French background but only found a sense of belonging when he met my mother,” Murray tells Australian Life.
Acclaimed at its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival, The Lost Tiger tells the story of Teo – a baby tiger found abandoned and wearing a mysterious crystal necklace. He’s adopted by a macho kangaroo family of travelling wrestlers but must embark on an epic quest to reconnect to his heritage and save his homeland from destruction.
As well as the kangaroos, there are many more delightful Aussie creatures including a platypus, quolls and koalas. Adding to the feel good buzz, The Lost Tiger is voiced by a celebrity cast including Rhys Darby, Celeste Barber (who plays a fun villain), Nakkiah Lui, Thomas Weatherall and Jim Bani.
Murray explains that after coming up with the concept of the film, she was hoping to be mentored by other indigenous female animators, but sadly, there weren’t any to be found.
“That’s how I knew that I was the first,” she says. However, she was very pleased to be working with “two powerful and creative women” from the Aussie female-led Like A Photon Creative production company.
“Kristen Souvlis and Nadine Bates took very good care of me and the rest of the cast,” she comments. “I gave birth last April, in the midst of production and was just going to take a few days off but they insisted I take a month.”
With three projects behind the scenes, Murray hopes that the release of The Lost Tiger will make it easier to fund other features. She counts herself lucky that her film was backed by Screen Queensland through its Development and Production Fund.
The Aussiewood film industry is certainly accelerating here. According to Forbes Australia by the end of 2023, expenditure on scripted screen productions exceeded $2 billion.
Helping it along, back in 2021 the Australian Government announced a $433 million package for location incentives and a 16.5% rebate that supports the production of large-budget film and television projects shot in Australia.
Each production adds much to the local economy including funds from private investment and massive opportunities for local cast and crews. Catering, hospitality, transport and tourism are just some of the associated industries that benefit greatly from each film or TV series made here.
Right now, the likes of Academy award winner Charlize Theron and Golden Globe winner Taron Egerton, along with Paul Rudd and Jack Black are currently all in Australia filming various Hollywood flicks.
With the deadly Californian bushfires having such a devastating effect on the American film industry, Australia might offer a safe and harmonious destination for some of the projects that have been impacted by the devastation. We certainly have state-of-the-art studios and crews who are ready to step in and work hard like a tiger.
