'Shared language of horror' uniting Aussie and Indonesian filmmakers

Horror movies 'bridging culture' between regional Australia and Indonesia Indonesian filmmaker Ivan Mosqueda does not hesitate when you ask him about his favourite Australian horror movie. "Talk to Me," Mr Mosqueda said. He is not alone. The 2022 hit by Australian brothers Michael and Danny Philippou, which made $92 million from a $4.5 million budget, has inspired a generation of creators. Mr Mosqueda is part of a group hoping to leverage the momentum of the Australian horror genre in a filmmaking program between Indonesian and regional Queensland universities. University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) lecturer Katherine Putnam said a "shared language of fear" had broken down language barriers among the group of filmmakers. "Fear is universal,"Dr Putnam said. "The thing about horror is that it is a highly popular genre in Indonesia. It's also a highly popular genre in Australia, especially with youth." The team spent a week filming short horror movies in Indonesia before calling action in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. The language of horror While Mick Taylor, the sadistic outback butcher from Wolf Creek, still haunts many Australians on road trips, Dr Putnam said the face of the domestic horror industry was changing. "As a genre, it goes beyond the gore to the primal emotions and themes about our world and how it operates," Dr Putnam said. The program is operating on a tight $60,000 budget, funded by UniSQ and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Dr Putnam hoped it would lead to more creative partnerships between Australia and Indonesia and ease the reliance on financing from the United States. Mr Mosqueda said it was interesting to contrast the similarities and differences between Australian and Indonesian horror. "Back in Indonesia, religion still has a big part, so the horror comes from traditional beliefs,"he said. Meanwhile, Mr Mosqueda said different species of insects that showed up on set in Toowoomba were a shock. "Whereas in Australia, the scary part could be the wilderness because Australia is big and there is lots of empty space." 'Regional with benefits' For the three Australian filmmakers involved in the program from Cairns, Mackay, and the Sunshine Coast, it was a rare chance for creatives outside of Brisbane to receive funding. "It's been a whirlwind, bit of a fever dream to be honest," Sunshine Coast-based filmmaker Amy Parry said. She said filmmakers outside of metro cities were banding together, inspired by the Phillippou brothers' YouTuber-to-box-office success. "We've got a great little collective of filmmakers [on the Sunshine Coast], and of course we can travel to Brisbane and the Gold Coast," Ms Parry said. But Ms Parry said she was concerned regional filmmakers will be the first to suffer as the state government cut at least $13 million in annual funding to Screen Queensland for the next two years. The organisation had been involved with Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok, and Bluey. "It would just be great for the government to also find value in the huge industry that is here and bringing so much money into the state."