Private Project

Ballad

  • Roe Bonnici
    Director
  • Roe Bonnici
    Writer
  • Laura Jane Turner
    Producer
    The Testosterone Club
  • Maeve Hook
    Key Cast
    "Mags Lilywhite"
  • Talitha Parker
    Key Cast
    "Eliza Marsten"
  • Lewis J. McAulay
    Key Cast
    "Sargent Kent"
  • Paddy Kavanagh
    Key Cast
    "Ernest Lilywhite"
  • Monica-Jane Saade
    Director of Photography
    The Testosterone Club
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Romance, Drama, Period, Queer, LGBT
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - SAE Creative Institute
Director Biography - Roe Bonnici

Since they were big enough to pick up a pencil, Roe has been storytelling.

Melbourne born, they spent their formative years buried in performing and visual arts, before falling head over heels for screen.

Proudly Trans, they channel their experiences into stories of connection, love, and queer joy.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

As a closeted teen who grew up on a functional diet of romance films (thanks Mum), the absence of stories that I could relate to was profound.

For a little queer kid, still firmly in multiple different closets, it always felt like there was something about those films that made it not "for me". I struggled with that for a long time, before resolving that love was just not for me- as it turns out, it was just the glaring absence of any accessible queer stories on screen.

Born of a love of the Victorian countryside and the mythos of the bushrangers that once roamed it, Ballad is a short form drama that explores the idea of a sudden, intimate connection in an isolating world- and a gift to a younger self; a reminder that love can be found even in the loneliest of places.