Jude Turner in Emotion is Dead.

Emotion is Dead – written and directed by Pete Williams about the closing of South Australia’s iconic Holden Elizabeth Factory – is hitting cinemas Australia-wide as part of an Aussie indie cinema tour. Pete is travelling with the film to over 30 indie cinema venues from July to October, hosting post-screening Q&A’s at each location.

The story centres around Brock (Jude Turner), a teenage skateboarder suffering from a recent family tragedy connected to the Holden Elizabeth Plant. To survive, he develops a unique money-making scheme that tangles him up in Adelaide’s criminal underworld and only his Peter Brock obsessed mum, Shazza (Gabby Llewelyn), and emo ex-girlfriend, Kylie (Tatiana Goode), can save him from a terrifying fate. 

The film explores themes including; a mother’s unconditional love for her child, the disconnection between wealth and morality and the precarious employment opportunities facing young people in the wake of de-industrialisation, cost of living crisis and global housing crisis. 

Pete grew up in Elizabeth and spent 15 years honing his filmmaking craft in London and Los Angeles, before returning to Australia in 2020, inspired to tell an authentic story about the people and places of his youth. 

Many of his family and friends worked at the Holden Elizabeth Plant, which employed over 5,400 workers at its peak and closed in 2017 after years of lay-offs and cut-backs, marking the end of the car manufacture in Australia. The area is now one of the lowest socio-economic suburbs in the country. 

Having successfully debuted the film at the Adelaide Film Festival last year, Pete is thrilled to be releasing the film in cinema’s Australia-wide, starting with special Event Screenings in Adelaide and Regional South Australia and then taking the film on the road, visiting all capital cities and smaller towns in between. 

“I wanted Emotion is Dead to be a love letter to the northern suburbs of Adelaide and wanted to come to terms with some of the demons of my own past by writing about them and representing them on screen,” says Pete.

“When the Holden Factory closed, it felt like a death in the family. This became the catalyst for my screenplay. The story quickly evolved to include many of my personal experiences growing up, where skateboarding, punk rock and petty crimes were all a big part of our lives. 

“I met with friends, family, Holden retirees and academics who had been impacted by the factory closing and started combining their stories into a single protagonist who could represent the pain, helplessness, and confusion many Elizabethans (Elizabeth-locals) felt when the factory closed,” Pete explained. 

The film was produced by Brian Hayes, who worked on Hotel Mumbai, and has an entirely South Australian cast, most notably Adam Tuominen who appeared on Power Rangers Ninja Storm, Tatiana Goode who starred in A Sunburnt Christmas (Stan) and rising star Jude Turner.

You can find details about the upcoming Emotion is Dead screenings here.

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