Damon Gameau to showcase ‘best film yet’ on home soil

LOCAL filmmaker Damon Gameau, best known for That Sugar Film, is gearing up to showcase his latest documentary, Future Council, which follows eight children from around the world on a road trip across Europe.

In a yellow, vegetable-powered bus, the children visited ecological projects and met with top executives from major companies like Nestlé, Decathlon and ING Bank.

“What’s good about this one is I’m not front and centre in it,” Gameau said. “It’s all about the kids and what they’re doing. They had the idea of starting a Future Council and talking to the boards of these companies.”

Gameau said Future Council was his most personal and proudest work to date.

“I think it’s my best film by a long way – it’s the one I’m most proud of. It’s very heartfelt,” he said.

The film premiered at the Melbourne Film Festival in August and was also screened at the Summit of the Future at the United Nations headquarters in New York last month.

“We got to see it on Times Square and the kids got to go inside the assembly hall and security council,” he said.

Gameau is especially eager to share the documentary with a local audience.

“It’s lovely to share it here and have a lot of friends and family come along and see it,” he said.

“I think a lot of people in this area would love it if their children got the kind of education you see in this film. We set up a classroom in a forest and by a glacial lake in the Swiss mountains. The kids teach me and I teach them things.”

Future Council will screen at the Byron Bay International Film Festival at Palace Cinemas in Byron Bay on October 22 and at the Lennox Head Cultural Centre on October 26. For more information and to book, visit bbff.com.au/future-council