By David Allan-Petale
Based on a book by a Fremantle author, shot in the state's south west and starring Hugo Weaving, the movie Jasper Jones just had its world premiere in Busselton but missed out on a $100,000 cash prize for excellence in film.
Promoted as an Australian coming of age story, Jasper Jones tells the story of Charlie Bucktin, a bookish boy of 14 who strikes up a friendship with the titular character Jasper Jones, a mixed race outcast who discovers the dead body of young woman: an event that will expose the racism and division within their country WA town in the summer of 1965.
WA author Craig Silvey (third from the right) has seen his 2009 novel adapted for both stage and screen.Credit: Busselton-Dunsborough Mail
Set in the fictional town of Corrigin, Jasper Jones was written by author Craig Silvery and a stage adaptation was brought to Perth's Barking Gecko theatre in 2014 with two more productions hitting the stage in Melbourne and Sydney.
Momentum for a film version gathered and Director Rachel Perkins helmed a production supported by ScreenWest shot in the south west town of Pemberton, with Hugo Weaving, best known for his role in The Matrix trilogy, playing the character of a hermit and fellow A-lister Toni Collette cast as Charlie's mother.
Jasper Jones is set to be released in early 2017.Credit: David Dare Parker/Bucktin Productions Pty Ltd
Jasper Jones is set for release in early 2017 but had its world premiere at the CinefestOZ Festival in Busselton on Wednesday, a celebration of West Australian and international films and documentaries.
It was in the running for Australia's richest film prize of $100,000 cash to reward excellence in Australian filmmaking.
But at the award ceremony on Saturday night, Jasper Jones lost out to Girl Asleep, a film from Adelaide that also tells a coming of age story, but set in 1970s suburbia.