04 05 2017 - Media release Grant Sputore to make his feature film debut with sci-fi thriller Mother
Grant Sputore
Screen Australia, South Australian Film Corporation and Screenwest have announced production investment funding for Mother, a thought-provoking sci-fi thriller that brings a dark and electrifying edge to this unique mother-daughter story. Based on an original concept by West Australian director Grant Sputore and writer Michael Lloyd Green, the script was one of the most sought after on the 2016 Black List.
Sputore is an award-winning commercial director who was selected by the Australian Directors' Guild to be a director's attachment with Kriv Stenders on Kill Me Three times in 2014 and made an impressive foray into scripted with his short film Legacy. Mother will be Sputore's feature film debut. It is being produced by The Penguin Empire's Kelvin Munro and Southern Light Films' Timothy White (Son of a Gun, Sleeping Beauty), and co-produced by Anna Vincent (Embrace). Executive producers are Jean-Luc de Fanti (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee), Terry Dougas (Jane Got A Gun), and Paris Kasidokostas-Latsis, whose film Good Time will screen In Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Mother tells the story of a lonely teenage girl known as Daughter, the first of a new generation of humans to be raised by Mother a kindly robot designed to repopulate the earth after the extinction of mankind. Their unique bond is threatened when a blood-drenched woman (Drifter) inexplicably arrives at the bunker, begging for help. Overnight the stranger calls into question everything Daughter has been told about the outside world and her Mother's intentions.
From its inception this is a film that was intended to get people's hearts pounding and their brains firing, in equal measure, said director Grant Sputore. Michael and I set out to create a screenplay that captures the excitement of the sci-fi thrillers we grew up watching, while exploring contemporary themes that would move, fascinate and enthrall audiences.
With three female protagonists driving the central storyline and an emerging director who shows great promise at the helm, Mother was a chance for us to support a rare Australian sci-fi film with a unique and compelling concept, said Sally Caplan, Head of Production at Screen Australia. It is a testament to the strength of this project that is has secured excellent Australian, New Zealand and international marketplace support, and we are confident it will prove to be a tremendous career opportunity for Grant Sputore and long-time collaborator Kelvin Munro.
Rising young actress Clara Rugaard has been cast in the role of Daughter, and casting is currently underway for the voice of Mother and the role of the Drifter. The legendary WETA Workshop (Avatar, The Lord of The Rings) will be creating the titular robot, with Rising Sun Pictures (Logan, The Water Diviner) completing the film's visual effects. Filming will commence soon in Adelaide.
Adelaide Studios are the perfect facility to host the 90% studio-based production where we know the creative team for Mother can deliver a truly unique world, said SAFC CEO Annabelle Sheehan. With post and visual effects also taking place in South Australia, the project will draw on the globally acclaimed talent of Adelaide-based Rising Sun Pictures and Kojo Productions. We congratulate SA s Southern Light Films' Timothy White and Anna Vincent in bringing this remarkable high concept film to South Australia."
Screenwest CEO Ian Booth said the funding body is proud to have supported the careers of director Grant Sputore and producer Kelvin Munro from The Penguin Empire for many years, and to have supported Mother from early development. Grant and Kelvin are exciting talents and the significant international attention Mother has received is a testament to this , he said. To see the scale of the production grow and world-class partners including WETA and Rising Sun Pictures come on board, all led by a dynamic Western Australian team in Grant and Kelvin, is very exciting.
Mother ia being financed by Hercules Film Investments and has received production investment funding from Screen Australia and SAFC in association with Screenwest, Lotterywest, Rising Sun Pictures and Kojo. The film is being represented by Mister Smith Entertainment and WME Global for international sales.
Related MaterialsDownload PDF
Download image
Media enquiries Jane Alexander | Senior Publicist
61 2 8113 5833 | 61 400 940 682 | jane.alexander@screenaustralia.gov.au
Clio Anne Ellis | Publicity and Events Coordinator
61 2 8113 1091 | 61 450 492 745 | clio.ellis@screenaustralia.gov.au
All other general/non-media enquiries Sydney 61 2 8113 5800 | Melbourne 61 3 8682 1900 | info@screenaustralia.gov.au
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
02/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Hollywood blockbusters The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbie and Oppenheimer make their Irish TV debut
Tune into the classics such as Love Actual...
02/12/2025
Showcasing fresh Irish storytelling and emerging talent Storyland 2025 signals a fantastic time for Irish drama
RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
04 05 2017 - Media release Grant Sputore to make his feature film debut with sci-fi thriller Mother 
