If you are between 18 and 35 years old, care about the environment and want to star in a ground-breaking action movie, filmmaker and recent QUT PhD graduate Cathy Henkel wants to hear from you. Best known for her award-winning documentary, The Burning Season, she is now producing and directing Rise of the Eco-Warriors - the biggest, most ambitious documentary ever conceived in the southern hemisphere.
Her company, Virgo Productions, which is based at QUT's Creative Industries Precinct in Kelvin Grove, is searching the globe for 10 "action heroes" willing to live in the jungles of Borneo for 100 days replanting the forest and saving the lives of endangered orangutans. The action heroes' adventures will form the storyline for a feature documentary film due to be released in 2013.
"We are guaranteeing a place for one Australian, one American and one Chinese action hero in the film," Ms Henkel said.
"Applicants need to be able to speak English. But the call is going out internationally to healthy, adventurous, courageous people who don't mind high-risk activities.
"They will need to be passionate - five months in the jungle will be pretty intense.
"Applicants need to make a 90-second clip and upload it to the site: anactionmovie.com by March 18. No previous experience in film-making is required. But we want people who actually care about the planet and have done something in the past to demonstrate that."
Ms Henkel said the movie was part of the DeforestACTION campaign run by TakingITGlobal and Microsoft Partners in Learning. Conservationist Dr Willie Smits have helped develop the project.
"This project is groundbreaking in a number of ways, one of which is the way it's being financed," she said.
"We're not going cap in hand to government saying, 'Please can you give us money to make this film.' We're looking at social capital markets and private investors, as well as corporate and business sponsors and crowd funding.
"Crowd funding is a novel way of raising money through individuals. It is a whole new way of financing a screen industry product.
"There are different levels of investment, from $10 to $1000. With each level, you get more involvement in the film, from exclusive access to behind-the-scenes footage, to your name appearing in the credits.
"We're trying to break the world record on crowd funding. You can go to virgoproductions.com.au to find out about that."
Virgo Productions is part of QUT's Creative Enterprise Australia (CEA), the commercial arm of QUT's Creative Industries Precinct - Australia's only dedicated incubator for creative industries.
"Not only does that mean the company can benefit from co-location with other creative businesses and the university, but Virgo Productions is able to access tailored creative business support and mentoring, such as introductions to potential investors," said Anna Rooke, CEO of CEA.
"Supporting companies like Virgo Productions is exciting on so many levels but the key for us is helping the team realise their creative and commercial vision."
Two interns working on Rise of the Eco-Warriors, Georgia Hine and Vanessa Rankin, are graduates of QUT's film and television course.
"They're brilliant. They've clicked right in," Ms Henkel said.
"And we are looking for more interns - grads or people wanting to do internships in the film industry. We're also looking for interns with expertise in PR or marketing.
"I've been making docos for 22 years and this is the most fun I've ever had."
To watch the promo video for Rise of the Eco-Warriors go to anactionmovie.com
Media contact: Michaela Ryan, QUT media officer, 07 3138 4494 or michaela.ryan@qut.edu.au
**Excellent high res photo of Cathy Henkel with an orangutan available for media use.
