Highly anticipated Western Australian feature Blueback, filmed in the Great Southern region, will make its Australian premiere later this month as part of the upcoming Perth Festival, ahead of opening in cinemas Australia-wide on New Year’s Day.

Written and directed by Robert Connolly (The Dry, Paper Planes), the film is returning to its home state after making its world premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September, where it screened as part of the festival’s Special Presentations strand.

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by acclaimed WA author Tim Winton, Blueback is a universal fable about friendship, family, connection to the ocean and the power of one young girl to make a difference. The film follows the story of Abby, a young girl living with her environmentalist mother on the pristine southern coast. While diving Abby forms a bond with a magnificent wild blue groper living in her local reef; realising that the fish is under threat, Abby takes inspiration from her activist Mum and takes on poachers to help protect the ocean that she so loves.

Writer/director Robert Connolly spent many years developing the project, which he also produces alongside Liz Kearney and James Grandison of Arenamedia. Predominately filmed in Bremer Bay on the rugged Great Southern coast of WA, Blueback is a cinematic journey into the beauty and fragility of the natural world, featuring breathtaking cinematography from Director of Photography Andrew Commis and Underwater Cinematographer Rick Rifici.