By Callum Ludwig
Warburton filmmaker Peter Downey has produced a quirky film to be screened at the Mecca Theatre in the Warburton Arts Centre on Thursday 7 July at 7pm. co-hosted by the Yarra Ranges Film Society and United Natures Media.
‘Dozer’s Pet Diesel’ was filmed largely in Warburton, as well as Healesville and Marysville, and features a number of cameos from Warburton residents.
Mr Downey said he would describe the film as a cross between a family comedy and the X Files.
“It began as a children’s story that I wrote a long time ago, never published, and that I put away for a long, long time. Then I got into filmmaking, and a few years later I thought I would use my documentary skills to turn that kids’ book into a film,” he said.
“The original idea came from my dog as a child, a Labrador that I had called Benji, I always wondered why he would run around peeing on car tyres and street lamps, and it got me thinking which became a realisation that they communicate through it which we uncover in the film.”
The mockumentary-style film is centred on dogs, and the relationship they share with each other and their owners and what it means to them.
Mr Downey said the film was inspired by Warburton’s mysteriousness and its crazy, dog-obsessed people.
“Over the years there’s been tales of the giant eel, black panthers up in the forest and other things like that, which you’ll notice in the film,” he said.
“It includes a bunch of the funniest locals as well, but there’s even a moving part about a lady whose dog got her through the loss of her son, going over to the Labyrinth in Healesville and walking with her dog.”
Tickets will be available soon and movie sessions will be able to be pre-booked at culturetracks.info or by phoning 1300 368 333.
Mr Downey said the audience will get a lot of different experiences out of the film.
“They’ll get a laugh out of it, that’s for sure, and a greater appreciation for their dog and for nature because one of the themes in the film is that dogs have domesticated us as much as we’ve domesticated them,” he said.
“That also goes for wheat and a lot of other things in nature, and we looked into that humbling philosophy in the film.”
