Local filmmaker set for the big screen

VISUAL artist Tim Sedgwick has been making short films for decades, just for fun.

Currently producing and filming his next science fiction movie Stargateway, this low-budget project is like no other Sedgwick has worked on before, because he has been given the opportunity to premiere it at Showbiz Cinemas.

“I’ve written the original story, music, made the sets and props, and starred in a lot of the movie myself,” he said.

The Stargateway shoot began last week, with cinematography and editing support from professional filmmaker Troy Beggs.

Sedgwick has a home green screen where production is taking place, and will edit his own original scene illustrations into the background of footage of actor performances, models, sets, props, and stop-motion animation.

Writer and comedian Justin ‘Hap’ Hayward is also on board the Stargateway creative ship.

“I showed Hap the ideas for the movie and storyboard drawings, and he thought it was very cool. He said, ‘I’ll write a script for you’ and we workshopped it,” Sedgwick said.

Friends have been enlisted to act alongside him, including musician and graphic artist Geoff Hassall.

A creative mentor of more than 15 years, and a production team member, Hassall calls himself “the Baldrick to Tim’s Blackadder.”

“I met Tim when I was running a music group, writing songs, and we found that making videos was the best medium to include everybody in a group of extremely diverse people with disabilities, to give them a meaningful role,” he said.

“There’s a job for everybody in filmmaking.”

Sedgwick said his dream has always been to make movies, write and perform music, and create art.

“Every birthday wish I get, I wish to be an artist, filmmaker and musician,” he said.

“It came true, because I worked on it, with a lot of hard work.”

Hoping to wrap the production in 2022, Sedgwick can’t wait to find out what his new Showbiz audience, family and friends think of Stargateway.

He expects they’ll love the “cool soundtrack” of original songs, in styles including heavy metal and hip hop that complement what’s happening in the story.

“I hope they enjoy it, and if they do, we might do a sequel,” Sedgwick laughed.

A professional visual artist and sculptor, Sedgwick enjoys making movies in his spare time. Visit timsedgwick.com.au for more information.