The spooky First Nations movie you need to see at BIFF

When actor-turned-It Will Find You writer and co-director Chris Broadbent was growing up in Nipaluna (Hobart), Lutruwita (Tasmania), his Palawa mother, Judy, always encouraged him to be creative.

But his late mother's Indigenous roots were often obscured by family members.

"Some of the older generation brought us up to be like, 'Oh no, no, you're not. If anyone asks, don't worry about it'," Broadbent recalls.

A curious lad, he dug around regardless. 

"There was always that question, and we had photos of my Aunties who had the dark olive skin, deep brown eyes and unmistakable features, so it always sat in the back of my mind," he says.

Broadbent's spooky new feature, screening at the Brisbane International Film Festival, explores how the secrets of the past and the erasure of First Nations stories impact Indigenous people viscerally.

Believe women

Broadbent began to explore First Nations lore, looking for a monster to stalk It Will Find You. 

"I was doing about four or five hours a day researching what creatures are out there, and there's hundreds, if not thousands," he says.

Understandably, he encountered a fair bit of resistance from Elders who wanted such tales to be left alone.

"I had to respect that and look to other avenues," he says

Luckily, Uncle Richard Green, Traditional Owner and Chief of the Kamilaroi Native Title Committee, was willing to share his old campfire stories, serving as a cultural consultant and executive producer on the feature.

"I spent a lot of time having yarns with him, trying to understand what he would listen to as a child," Broadbent says. 

"Uncle Richard helped me play with the whole monster myth, allowing us to connect that with understanding mental health."

Territory star Kylah Day plays cafe worker Emily in It Will Find You. While moving out of her dad's (Animal Kingdom's Luke Ford) house and into the home of her partner, Mark (Tom Jackson), she discovers a pendant once owned by her late mother.

Unwittingly awakening an ancient and malevolent spirit that will stop at nothing to reclaim the trophy, Emily scrambles to fill in the gaps of her childhood, desperately searching to find out more about who she is, on her mum's side, and how to fight back.

All the while, a homeless man played by Mystery Road lead Aaron Pedersen, angrily reacts to her possession of the stone, and a mysterious Aunty played by Ursula Yovich may know more than she's letting on.

As the bodies begin to pile up around Emily, even Mark starts to doubt her tales of supernatural mayhem, suspecting she's unravelling dangerously.

"They stamp you with being crazy, when, at the end of the day, it comes down to the naivety and the inexperience of understanding what First Nation stories have to offer," Broadbent says. 

"Kylah absolutely rocked it. It's every director's dream when your actor shows up with a book full of notes, lines down, choices made."

Making a monster

Broadbent cannot remember exactly how many times he's watched The Tunnel, the frightening found-footage horror movie co-written by Italian-Australian filmmaker Enzo Tedeschi, but it's a lot.

So, he jumped at the chance to collaborate with Tedeschi, first on the short, then on the feature-length It Will Find You. Tedeschi was thrilled to be asked.

"When Chris brought me the script, it was a really cool idea from a very early draft," he recalls. 

"While our histories are not at all alike, there was a part of me, with my migrant heritage, that felt an affinity with that idea of being pressured at school, to toe the line and fit in, rather than embrace and accept who you and your culture are."

With a lot of experience in genre filmmaking, Tedeschi could bring a lot to the table. He helped bring on board Adam Johansen and Damian Martin, the co-founders of Oscar-winning special effects company Odd Studio, who created the film's terrifying creature.

"That monster suit was very expensive, but worth every single cent to be able to have the guys who have worked on every major Hollywood movie that's come to Australia," Tedeschi grins.

"They've been on set with Ridley Scott on Alien: Covenant."

Tedeschi also brought his mate, Bad Boy Bubby actor Nicholas Hope, along for the ride. Hope plays a professor who boorishly lectures Emily on her own history, however disconnected.

"I've worked with Nicholas a few times since Event Zero, and he's an absolute delight every single time," Tedeschi says. 

"So to have him with heavy hitters like Barbara Bingham, Aaron and Ursula, on an 18-day shooting schedule like ours, where we did not have time to muck around, is fantastic."

Having Hope on board was a nightmare come true for Broadbent. "Nicholas freaked the shit out of me as a kid when I watched Bad Boy Bubby," Broadbent says. 

"So when Enzo goes, 'What about Nicholas?' I was like, 'Let's go'."

Broadbent's glad he and Tedeschi get to walk this path together.

"I watched his films and thought, 'I have to work with this guy', and the universe listened and delivered," he says. 

"It takes a certain eye to be able to do horror well, so to be mentored by one of the greats is incredible."

Broadbent's here for Australia's horror renaissance. "It's given me inspiration and motivation to explore more. The First Nations community has so much depth and history in our stories."

It Will Find You screens at the Brisbane International Film Festival on November 30