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It was the week before Christmas...The two boys enter MICHAEL: Stop following me! ANDREW: I'm allowed to. MICHAEL: I don't like it. ANDREW: When I grow up I'll be bigger than you. MICHAEL: No you won't. I'm going to come to your bed one night and slit your throat from ear to ear! |
Synopsis
The time is now, the place is here. Or is it? A week before Christmas, Harry Johnston is concerned that he won't receive his Christmas bonus. But what exactly is Harry's job?
Credits
Cast: Tim Allen, Gabrielle Hammond, James Chapman and Reuben Lawrence-Lane
Production company: Left of Centaur Productions
Written, produced and directed by Simon Luckhurst
Filmed and edited by Keean Murrell Snape
Budget
This one was as cheap as chips. We filmed at home after I, well, rearranged, Christmas. I spent some money on food and tinsel. Relativity Films made their usual wonderful contribution, and Retro Wombat supplied some interesting props. Thanks to Sarah Moss, Grant Zandstra, Xanthe Waite, Samantha Coles and Zoe Luckhurst-Lane who crewed.
Screenings
Overall Winner of Short Sited 12 Film Festival. (Excerpt from Short Sited press release: 'Wollongong resident Simon Luckhurst’s Christmas Bonus was a chilling black and white sci-fi tale about an alternate future where Germany ended up winning World War II. It struck a cord with the festival judges. Luckhurst took home an exclusive trophy and a prizepack valued at over $5000 including the major prize of an Sydney Weekend Away Package courtesy of Telecafe™, a feature film course scholarship offer with Participate Film Academy, videogames from Atari and DVDs from Video Ezy® plus much more!')
Included on the Short Sited 12 special edition DVD. As well as all the other films screened at Short Sited 12, the 2-disc set contains bonus material including an audio commentary of Christmas Bonus.
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Screened at the West Side Shorts Festival, Junction Hotel in Newport Melbourne on 16 December 2008.
Christmas Bonus is listed on the Australian Film Commission's Searchable Film Database and the Internet Movie Database.
Notes on the Film
It was election year in Australia, and even though I'm a politics junkie I just grew completely and utterly sick of these people who appeared on television every night, who never claimed responsibility for anything, who constantly demonised the other side and who repeatedly lied through their smiles. The manipulation of the media over the last few years (think Weapons of Mass Destruction, children overboard, they myth of the 'Union bosses' and the all time classic, 'I apologised for the interest rate rise, but that's not the same as saying sorry' - or was it the other way around?) was just sickening. Anyway, I wanted to make a statement about language and integrity.
You want to know something really strange? Years ago I came across an album cover for an LP of Nazi war music, 'The Words and Songs of Nazi Germany', if you can believe it. A couple of years afterwards I came across the record that went inside the cover. I never actually listened to it but hung onto it for ironic purposes. When scoring this film I thought there might be something on it we could use so took it to Keean. The really bizarre thing was that he had, a few years back, collected Part II of the same album. Also, I hasten to add, for ironic purposes. In gratitude for Keean's great work on this film, and all my other films, not to mention that he's a pretty good guy, I gave him my album. I know he'll use it wisely...
Watch the movie
Pictures
Tim Allen and Gabrielle Hammond |
James Chapman and Reuben Lawrence-Lane |
