Director Damon Gameau has brought his latest short film to Ballarat, with a message that the country's sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic over the next 10 years should be community-led.
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Regenerating Australia makes its regional debut on Friday night and asks the question 'what would Australia look like by 2030 if we simply listened to the needs of its people?'.
The film takes the form of a news bulletin on New Year's Eve 2029 looking back on the decade that could be and features well-known Australians including Kerry O'Brien, Sandra Sully, Gorgi Coghlan, Tim Flannery, David Pocock and Sally Capp with interviews gathered over a four-month process.
Mr Gameau said the film was an optimistic look at what could be achieved in the next eight years.
"It's kind of an optimistic vision of what we could achieve in this country and how it would transform our communities, reinvigorate those communities and start to fix so many of these ecological challenges we face.
"What really came through in the interviews was that people wanted more about vitality in their regions again, they wanted more of a say in the politics in their community, they wanted more greenery and nature in their communities."
As part of his visit to Ballarat to premiere the film, Mr Gameau also spoke with students from Ballarat secondary schools on Thursday afternoon and was part of a Committee for Ballarat round table on Thursday night at the first event at the recently-completed Goods Shed.
Mr Gameau said Ballarat was a great example for a regional area that had been inundated with growth and faced big questions.
"How do they adapt to that? What do they have to do differently in terms of their energy and their transport networks? Providing the right food without destroying the land. These are big questions that all sorts of regions are asking right now," he said.
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"Given the challenges we face, how can these communities actually grow in a productive way that's a sustainable way instead of inflicting more damage?"
Mr Gameau said the regional premiere event was a chance to look at the future in a less dystopian way.
"We're really inviting people to talk about the careers of the future and instead of this dystopian negative image of where we're headed, this is actually trying to flip that narrative and say, 'no, there's a great opportunity for this country'," he said
"Let's come along and see it and then talk about it and then figure out the ways we might be able to implement it in our own regions."
The regional premiere for Regenerating Australia takes place at the Regent Cinema on Friday night from 6.30pm with a screening and a Q and A session. Tickets are $20 for adults and free for children under 18.
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