Private Project

Seeds of Gold.

Salifa and her mother, Marta, have left behind the chaos of the Lebanese civil war in 1977 to start anew in rural NSW Australia. They struggle on a farm, until rumours start swirling about the discovery of gold on the farm.

  • James Elazzi
    Director
    Yannis
  • James Elazzi
    Writer
    Yannis
  • James Elazzi
    Producer
    Yannis
  • Amanda Torrisi
    Producer
  • Nola Bartolo
    Producer
  • Violette Ayad
    Key Cast
    "Salifa"
  • Simon Elrahi
    Key Cast
    "Boss"
  • Nola Bartolo
    Key Cast
    "Haydar"
  • Deborah Galanos
    Key Cast
    "Layla"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 8, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - James Elazzi

James is a screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. He has spent the last three years working on his second short film, Seeds of Gold. Son of Byblos James’ latest play is shortlisted for the 2023 NSW Premier's Playwrighting Literacy Awards, making this his third consecutive shortlisting the award for three separate works. James received 2022-2023 Screen Australia Development Funding for his first feature film, Omar and Dawn, which he is set to write and direct. In 2022, James wrote, directed and produced his short film Yannis, which has officially been selected in more than 16 Film Festivals around the world including Los Angeles, Poland, Greece, Lebanon and Italy. It has since won Best Performances in the 2022 LGBTQ+ Los Angeles Film Festival and nominated 7 times in the Made in The West Film Festival, including best director and screenplay, winning best Lead Actor. In 2022, James' play Son of Byblos (also finalist for the Silver Gull Play Award) premiered in May as part of Belvoir’s 25A program and nominated twice in the 2023 Sydney Theatre Awards. Son of Byblos is also published by PlayLab Brisbane. Queen Fatima (2022 shortlisted in the 2022 Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards) directed by Paige Rattray, produced by Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta/2021 Sydney Festival. Lady Tabouli (shortlisted in the 2021 Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting) dir. by Dino Dimitriadis and twice nominated in the 2020 Sydney Theatre Awards. 2019 Omar and Dawn Kings Cross Theatre, dir. by Dino Dimitriadis, produced by Greendoor/Apocalypse. James was granted a place in the 2019-21 Sydney Theatre Company Emerging Writers’ Program.

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Director Statement

I am on a mission to create rich, complex and beautiful Lebanese Australian stories, avoiding the stereotypes that have been used to depict our community for years. It is time to take hold of our unique narratives now and tell them in the most authentic way we can.