By NOEL MURPHY
OSCAR-nominated actor Rachel Griffiths stars in a new art-house film written and produced by Highton lawyer Grant Fraser.
Strangers to the World is a three-part drama featuring Griffiths as Etty Hillesum, who died at Auschwitz with her family rather than separate from them to survive in hiding.
The film also features Aussie star William McInnes in the role of Sir Thomas More, Henry VIII’s chancellor executed for renouncing his office and breaking his oath to the Tudor king when he decided to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn.
The third act within the film has actor Jack Finsterer in the role of Franz Jaegerstaetter, an Austrian farmer guillotined for refusing to fight with the Nazis.
The movie has multiple AFI award-winner Ellery Ryan as cinematographer with music by Richard Pleasance of Boom Crash Opera and Seachange renown.
Mr Fraser, also a poet, actor, musician, teacher, writer, director and producer, said Strangers to the World was an essay on conscience and its role in the lives of three extraordinary people.
“These people have fascinating stories and, as Rachel says, they’ve just got to be told,” Mr Fraser said.
“She could charge a fortune but she’s working at base rate.
“We’re part way through the project at this stage, we’ve filmed at the Docklands studios in Melbourne and the film’s been backed by the Australian Cultural Fund. We have a trailer on Etty Hillesum up already.”
Geelong’s stocks as a movie-making industry destination might be growing but so too are its credentials for industry personnel.
Mr Fraser is an industry evergreen who, between lawyering and teaching, has appeared in such productions as Homicide, Division 4 and The Big Men Fly.
In 2005 he wrote, produced and directed documentary Syllable to Sound, featuring Helen Morse and Alison Bell. Last year he produced short film Rembrandt Van Rijn.
Mr Fraser has also published a collection of poetry, Some Conclusion in the Heart, and occasionally performs as a singer-guitarist after studying under Geelong jazz aficionado Paul Rettke.
LINK: www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au/artist-projects/strangers-to-the-world
