Tenielle Thompson as HER in Vineyard Ablaze. 

Victorian-based filmmaker Troy Blackman has announced a limited cinema release for his debut feature film, Vineyard Ablaze. 

Shot the small Ballarat town of Shelford, Blackman’s new black and white psychodrama follows Minerva (Madeleine Burgess), a young woman who returns to her hometown to care for her grandmother, Vina (Sandra Bradshaw-West) who is dealing with dementia. 

Both women are harbouring their own secrets as they deal with each other in an amalgam of memories, dreams and nightmares, putting to question their own sanities.

Having wanted to make a feature film for many years, Troy set out to learn the craft by making a series of short films under his production company, Sensory Echo Films. 

“After working out the do’s and don’ts of filmmaking, I knew I had to start small and that a psychodrama set around dementia and memory would suit the themes of the small scale story I set out to create,” Troy tells Cinema Australia. 

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Set in a confined space to match the characters’ physical and mental state, and inspired by his wife, Emma-Lee, who works in healthcare, the initial idea first came to Troy in 2018 and the script was completed in 2021 towards the end of lockdowns. 

“We shot over twenty days in 2022 with an eager cast and crew. Vineyard Ablaze was shot on a micro budget, so the shoot wasn’t without its hurdles,” says Troy.

“During the Shelford scenes the shoot experienced once in one hundred year floods with the camera and sound crew stranded in the cottage, the only way out by canoe.”

Troy spent over a year editing the film, which he completed in January this year.

Now that the film is finished, Troy hopes Vineyard Ablaze gets under the audience’s skin and sheds some light on some series issues that are currently at the forefront of society. Vineyard Ablaze touches on the difficulties of in-home care, the insidiousness of coercive control and how memory plays a part in all our lives.

Vineyard Ablaze will play in select cinemas from November 2, 2024. Other screening dates are yet to be announced. 

Keep an eye on cinemaaustralia.com.au for updates. 

Showbiz Cinema, Ballarat
November 2, 2024 at 6:30pm
https://vineyard_ablaze_showbiz.eventbrite.com.au

The Pivotonian Cinema – Geelong
November 7, 2024 at 7pm
https://vineyard_ablaze_pivotonian.eventbrite.com.au

Sun Theatre, Yarraville
November 15, 2024
VINEYARD ABLAZE – Sun Theatre

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