{"id":121689,"date":"2026-04-23T16:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=121689"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:16:13","slug":"cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinemas roll out the red carpet for locally produced film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palace Regent Cinemas will tomorrow night host the local premiere of Melodies of the Abyss, a short movie that was filmed in Ballarat last year.<\/p>\n

The 29-minute production, described as a \u201cpsycho\u2013thriller\u201d, will be the centrepiece of a red carpet industry showcase and networking event involving creatives, industry professionals and collaborators.<\/p>\n

It will be open to everyone and entry will be free, but it is recommended that people reserve a place by going to the Eventbrite website and searching under the film title with Ballarat as the location.<\/p>\n

The event is being hosted by Hotshot Films, founded by industry identity Max WeiHaiHan whose career spans over two decades across film, television and advertising.<\/p>\n

It will also introduce 38Hot Film, an initiative of WeiHaiHan and Sam Iwata \u2013 the writer and director of the movie.<\/p>\n

38Hot Film is an international boutique studio that focuses on creating work that \u201ccrosses borders, carries voices, and speaks to the human spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

Melodies of the Abyss was inspired by the death of Kurt Cobain, reimagining his final hours as a surreal confrontation with a shadowed figure.<\/p>\n

According to the film\u2019s publicity material, what begins as a familiar tragedy slips into something stranger, more intimate, and far more unsettling.<\/p>\n

It stars Kym Jackson, Andrew Steel, Finnian James and Teagan Skye.<\/p>\n

Industry creatives and some special guests will attend the event, which will get started with red carpet arrivals at 6pm.<\/p>\n

Melodies of the Abyss will be screened at 7pm with a Q&A session to follow at 7.30pm.<\/p>\n

The night will be opened up to networking opportunities from 8pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re passionate about storytelling and want to connect with a growing creative community, we\u2019d love to see you there,\u201d an event spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the night would mark a new chapter for regional filmmaking, as did the choice of Ballarat as a filming location.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project brought together diverse creative worlds to create meaningful pathways for greater access to the screen industry, while showcasing the value of regional settings and infrastructure,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe screening helps to set the tone for an event centred around connection, creativity and shared vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie\u2019s website is at melodiesoftheabyss.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Palace Regent Cinemas will tomorrow night host the local premiere of Melodies of the Abyss, a short movie that was filmed in Ballarat last year. The 29-minute production, described as a \u201cpsycho\u2013thriller\u201d, will be the centrepiece of a red carpet industry showcase and networking event involving creatives, industry professionals and collaborators. It will be open […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":121693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-121689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCinemas roll out the red carpet for locally produced film - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Attend the free Melodies of the Abyss Ballarat premiere at Palace Regent Cinemas. Join the red carpet event and Q&A for this Kurt Cobain-inspired thriller.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cinemas roll out the red carpet for locally produced film - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Attend the free Melodies of the Abyss Ballarat premiere at Palace Regent Cinemas. Join the red carpet event and Q&A for this Kurt Cobain-inspired thriller.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T06:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-23T06:16:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/04\/Melodies-of-the-Abyss-1.jpg?_t=1776924973\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darren McLean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darren McLean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darren McLean\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1bcfc3c748613d0b0c79f665c5cbbd8c\"},\"headline\":\"Cinemas roll out the red carpet for locally produced film\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T06:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T06:16:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":378,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Melodies-of-the-Abyss-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cinemas roll out the red carpet for locally produced film - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/news\\\/cinemas-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-locally-produced-film\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/Melodies-of-the-Abyss-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-23T06:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-23T06:16:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Attend the free Melodies of the Abyss Ballarat premiere at Palace Regent Cinemas. 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