From Ballarat to Warsaw

A NEW feature film written and directed by Ballarat’s Sam Voutas is premiering today at the Warsaw International Film Festival.

Yesterday Island is a dark comedy Voutas wrote the screenplay for after being inspired by Ballarat’s weather.

The plot explores what happens when a midnight phone call from a friend asking for a favour leads a failed writer to be trapped on a surreal subantarctic island, with darkly comedic consequences.

The film stars Ivan Aristeguieta, Florence Noble, Francis Greenslade, Genevieve Neve, David Fane, Luke Saliba, Fiona Crombie, Fiona Stewart, and Rohan Ganju.

“I wanted to film something in the Ballarat area but was struggling to find the right story,” said Voutas.

“It was the middle of winter and I was listening to the weather on the radio about another cold spell in Ballarat due to Antarctic winds.

“With Ballarat’s elevation we do get more of those winds than other places, so it struck me that weirdly there was a very direct connection between Ballarat and the subantarctic of all places.

“I did a bit of research and of course Australia has a number of islands in the subantarctic, Heard and Macquarie being the biggest, and I thought a story set in that part of the world would be really interesting to dive into.

“The film was written and edited in Black Hill.

“A lot of Yesterday Island was shot near Ballarat in Anakie, as well as Port Fairy and Geelong. We filmed in Melbourne for the studio scenes, and King Island for many exteriors.”

Ballarat’s Melanie Ansley produced the film and both she and Voutas have traveled to Warsaw for the film’s premiere.

“The film will have its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival, before going on to premiere in North America at the Austin Film Festival,” Ansley said.

The film makers describe Yesterday Island as “a quirky dark comedy about second chances, petty revenge, and the ultimate importance of forgiveness.”

“We hope to bring the film to audiences in Ballarat in 2026,” said Voutas who’s known for prior work including King of Peking (2017) and Red Light Revolution (2010) which he wrote and directed, and City of Life and Death (2009) which he acted in.

“Ballarat has so many wonderful locations and talented actors, it would be great to film the next one here in the city itself.”