Miracle Fish

Miracle Fish is a 2009 Australian short film. It was written, directed, and edited by Luke Doolan, and produced by Drew Bailey.[1] The film stars Karl Beattie, Brendan Donoghue and Tara Morice. It was nominated for Best Live Action Short at the 82nd Academy Awards.[2]

Miracle Fish
Directed byLuke Doolan
Produced byDrew Bailey
Written byLuke Doolan
StarringKarl Beattie
Brendan Donoghue
Tara Morice
Music byFrançois Tetaz
CinematographyBrad Shield
Edited byLuke Doolan
Release date
  • 15 January 2009 (2009-01-15) (United States)
Running time
17:53
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Joe (Karl Beattie) wakes up on his 8th birthday. His mum drops him off late to school, saying that there is a present in his lunch box. Feeling miserable, Joe goes through class and break time, being bullied at both turns. He finds that his present is a 'Miracle Fish,' a piece of plastic in the shape of a fish that you place in your hand and what it does determines your future. Joe places it in his hand and it says that he is compassionate.

The bullies appear and afterwards, Joe sneaks off to sick bay. He falls asleep until after 1:00 p.m.. He wanders around the school finding it completely abandoned. He plays around, writing on the walls, taking food from the canteen, skateboarding along the hallways. In the auditorium, he finds a book about alien abduction, and ponders if that is what happened to the students and teachers.

After some time, he hears running water and goes into the teachers' staffroom to find a tap has been turned on. He turns it off and leaves the room, closing the door behind him, not noticing the bloody hand print on the back of it.

A short while later, he hears a phone ringing and goes into a classroom to investigate. He finds a teacher's phone in her desk and answers it to hear a stranger's voice on the other end. After a few moments, with the voice asking Joe who he is, it urges him to find a place to hide. It is too late though, as a man with a rifle enters the room with bloodstains on his clothes. Joe, not understanding the situation, asks the man if he is injured, and the man begins talking about how life is meant to be able to go in any direction you choose, but in reality it doesn't. "You can't turn 65 cents into a dollar." Joe notices a laser dot on his forehead, and the man is quickly shot and killed by police who flood the room, grabbing up Joe, and checking that the man is dead.

Cast
Character Actor
JoeKarl Beattie
ManBrendan Donoghue
MumTara Morice
PeterAngus Russo
MattJason Doric
Front Office LadyEliza Logan
TeacherCath Esposito
Peter Unwin/TRG NegotiatorKieran Darcy-Smith
TRG#1Sebastian Dickins
TRG#2Ashley Fairfield

Production

The short film was shot over two and a half days. The first two days, Saturday and Sunday 18 and 19 October 2008, were filmed at Matraville Sports High School, the half day was filmed on Monday 20 October 2008 at Annandale North Public School with students from Class 4D volunteering to play both the extras in the school yard and in the classroom. The film was shot using the Red One camera at 4K recording format.

gollark: GTech™ screens incorporate solid-state lasers and dynamically switchable optics to neutralize any insects which land on or near them.
gollark: Moth incursions really can be extremely, and.
gollark: Interesting!
gollark: Actually, Scotland has "midgies", highly apiohazardous entities.
gollark: Factual fact: Scotland is one of the most Scottish places on earth.

References
  1. "Aussie pair hope for Oscars miracle". ABC News. ABC News (Australia). 8 March 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  2. "Miracle Fish". oscar.go.com. United States: ABC. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
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