Feature drama Sunflower takes home Queer Screen completion funding

Sunflower.

Pancake Originals have been awarded completion funding from Queer Screen at the opening night of the Mardi Gras Film Festival launch in Sydney, for Gabriel Carrubba’s remarkable debut feature, Sunflower.

Sunflower tells the story of Leo, a seventeen-year-old boy struggling to understand and embrace his sexuality as he comes of age in the working-class suburbs on Melbourne’s edge. A stirring and personal film, Sunflower is a sensual and intimate character study from an exciting new voice in Queer and Australian cinema.

The film was recently awarded finishing funds from Queer Screen in Sydney generating unanimous praise from its jury members. The jury was composed of Sue Maslin (producer, The Dressmaker), Paul Tonta (Festivals and Special Events Manager, Madman Entertainment) and Kylie Washington (General Manager and Creative Director, BBC Studios Australia and New Zealand). Queer Screen Festival Director Lisa Rose stated “The Queer Screen Completion Fund was first awarded in 2016, having awarded over $140,000 in funding since. Supporting Australian LGBTIQ+ filmmakers to complete their projects is a fundamental part of what Queer Screen is about and we are thrilled to award $15,000 to the team behind Sunflower. We can’t wait to see it on the big screen.”

Sunflower stars an array of Australian acting talent and emerging performers including Liam Mollica (Nowhere Boys), Luke J. Morgan (The Xrossing), Oliva Fildes (How Deep Is the Ocean), Daniel Halmarick, Mia Barrett (The Library Boys), Elias Anton (Of an Age), Sal Galofaro (Crossfire), Diana Ferreira, Dylan Laguerre, Uisce Goriss-Dazeley (The Library Boys), Nelson Blattman, Mark Muo (Streets of Colour) and Jacob Pontil-Scala.

The crew is headed by writer/director Gabriel Carrubba, producer Zane Borg (writer/director, The Library Boys), cinematographer Martine Wolff (Love, Tea & Epiphany), editor Shannon Michaelas (Tarneit, Some Happy Day), composer Marlon Grunden (The Library Boys), sound recordist Jack McCulloch (Cerulean Blue), hair & makeup artist Armanda Pozzetto (An American Masquerade) and executive producer Michael Facey (producer and managing partner at Scullface).

“There weren’t many queer films for a closeted teenager growing up in the outer-suburbs of Melbourne to watch. I felt alone and isolated, as if I were the only teenage boy struggling with my thoughts and feelings.” says Gabriel Carrubba, writer/director of Sunflower. “I made Sunflower to give queer teenagers hope, to show them that they’re not alone, that they are perfectly fine just the way they are. Had I seen a film like Sunflower as a teenager, perhaps I wouldn’t have felt as isolated.”

“These stories like Gabriel’s, lived and shared, play an important role.” says Zane Borg, Producer and Founder of Pancake Originals. “They present a path forward, a guiding light, which should never be extinguished until each and every last person has found their way. It’s my hope that the release of Sunflower will ignite more of these personal stories being brought to the Australian screen.”

Sunflower is currently in post-production and will bow at festivals later this year. More details to follow soon.