Tahlia Sturzacker in The Debt. Photo by Ian Routledge.

Production has wrapped in Adelaide on new horror The Debt, the latest feature film to come out of South Australia’s successful Film Lab: New Voices initiative from the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), Screen Australia and the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF).

The debut feature from writer Piri Eddy and Yankunytjatjara writer Pearl Berry, Yankunytjatjara producer Lilla Berry, and director Johanis Lyons-Reid, The Debt is breaking ground as the first feature film to be made by a South Australian First Nations led creative team with major state government support.

The Debt launched with impact this month at the world’s biggest film market, the Cannes Marché du Film, with producer Lilla Berry selected for the prestigious impACT Lab, a program of exclusive workshops and group sessions for emerging producers from around the world.

Supported by Screen Australia, Lilla’s participation at the Marché spotlighted South Australian screen talent on the world stage.

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Filmed on location in the Adelaide Hills, The Debt features an all-Australian cast with Sophie Lowe (Beautiful Kate, Once Upon A Time in Wonderland), Tahlia Sturzacker (I Am Mother), and Nathan Page (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Hunting), alongside South Australian talent Mark Saturno (Diabolic, First Day) and Shailza Rai (RFDS).

The character-driven elevated horror/thriller follows June (Sturzacker), a young girl who is adopted by Anna (Lowe), a renowned pianist living on a sprawling estate. But this place harbours secrets, and June soon discovers she’s merely a pawn in a deadly covenant.

Launched in 2020, Film Lab: New Voices is a groundbreaking talent escalator initiative co- funded by the SAFC, Screen Australia and AFF which sees three South Australian filmmaking teams mentored through a 12-month skills development program to develop their first low- budget feature film script. At the completion of the lab, one team is selected to receive $600,000 in screen production grant funding.

The initiative has already demonstrated its impact globally, with the first two films achieving critical acclaim and going from international festival success to successful theatrical releases. Inaugural film Monolith from writer Lucy Campbell, director Matt Vesely and producer Bettina Hamilton was nominated for Best Indie Film at the 2024 AACTA Awards following its international premiere at SXSW in Austin, Texas, and enjoyed a successful release in cinemas across Australia and the US.

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Its successor, animated comedy Lesbian Space Princess from writer/directors Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese and producer Tom Phillips, and starring rising South Australian talent Shabana Azeez (The Pitt), won the 2026 AACTA Awards for Best Indie Film and Best Original Song, and has a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes off the back of a successful cinematic run.

Film Lab: New Voices is currently in its fourth round, with a new crop of three teams set to be announced soon for the next development phase.

The Debt producer Lilla Berry said: “We have been so grateful for this experience. Making a first feature is always a huge milestone, but we have had such excellent support through the Film Lab: New Voices initiative, and from all our funding partners. Our incredibly talented cast and local crew helped make our shoot so seamless, and we cannot wait to share our film with the world!”

For more information about Film Lab: New Voices, to go safilm.com.au

Lilla Berry will be speaking as part of Rising Together – First Nations Voices in Screen, a special National Reconciliation Week event presented by the SAFC in partnership with The Mercury on 1 June, 2026. For more information, click here.