Ashes to ashes, dust to Dusty.
Dusty is an ambitious dark comedy that explores the toxic side of grief.
What happens when you can no longer reach the people you love, and what lengths will you go to for just another moment, one more beer, one more dance, one more line…
Directed by Jeremy Lindsay Taylor
Written & Created by Travis Jeffery
Synopsis
Unable to accept the death of his best friend, Dustin goes into voluntary self isolation with a million beers and several bags of cocaine. Amidst the chaos of his grief-induced bender for one, he accidentally mixes the ashes with a very generous line of cocaine, and to his complete and utter confusion, Ashleigh appears.
Realising the more ashes he consumes, mixed with the ever-growing quantity of drugs, the more vivid Ashleigh becomes… and the longer she stays.
Dusty doesn’t hold back. reunited again, they proceed to have the time of their lives. To reach Ashleigh, he takes his body and mind to places they were never meant to go, bringing him to the brink of survival. Rock bottom looming, Dusty’s the only one who can save himself from complete self destruction.
Director's Statement
Grief, intense sorrow, the loss of a loved one, is something every human being experiences in their lifetime.
How each of us copes with it is what varies dramatically. Dusty is a deeply personal and courageous story written by my incredibly talented dear friend, Travis Jeffery.
It’s been an absolute honour to step behind the camera for the first time with such an empowered, professional and passionate team of creatives and bring this story to life. I truly believe taking on such a universal and crucial subject matter opened the door for good Karma throughout the filmmaking process. So, take a seat, strap yourselves into our Dusty rollercoaster, and be prepared to be punched in the heart!
Cast
Travis Jeffery is Dusty
Travis is best known for his roles in Gallipoli, Universal Pictures’ Unbroken, anzac girls and Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean. His other credits include Top End Wedding, Danger Close, The Preacher, Frayed and Bloody Hell. Travis recently played Thomas Nickels in Before Dawn, Henry Jambor in Last King Of The Cross and Constable Paul Perry in smash hit Heart Break High. See Travis in 20th Century’s The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Shannon Ryan is Ashleigh
Shannon has performed in various independent theatre productions for which she received nominations for both ‘Best Actress in a Play’ and ‘Best Supporting Actress in a Play’ in the BroadwayWorld Sydney Awards. Shannon has also worked with some of Australia’s most exciting film and TV directors, such as John Hillcoat and Shannon Murphy. In 2022, Shannon was the Movement Director for the short film ‘Fractal’ for prominent Australian fashion brand, produced by Dollhouse Pictures.
Susie Porter is Mumma
Susie Porter is an Australian television, film and theatre actress. She made her debut in the 1996 film Idiot Box, before rising to prominence in films including Paradise Road (1997), Welcome to Woop Woop (1997), Two Hands (1999), Better Than Sex (2000), The Monkey’s Mask (2000), Mullet (2001), Teesh and Trude (2002), and The Caterpillar Wish (2006). Porter is also highly recognised for her roles in television series, most notably, as Patricia Wright in East West 101, Eve Pritchard in East of Everything, as Kay Parker in Sisters of War, and as Marie Winter in the prison drama, Wentworth.
Dusty is a deeply personal film.
We want to invite audiences to join us in this messed up party of ours to ultimately bring a message of hope and healing after incomprehensible loss.
Key Creatives
Director - Producer Jeremy Lindsay Taylor
Jeremy is well known to Australian audiences. Some of Jeremy’s credits include Black Comedy, Love Child, Gallipoli, Puberty Blues and Underbelly: Razor. Recently he appeared in Netflix series Heartbreak High, Transfusion and The Dry. This year you can see Jeremy in the Force of Nature: The Dry 2, Amazon series The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Claremont Murders, Stans Original series CAUGHT starring Sean Penn and Matthew Fox and the comedy feature film AUDREY which had its International premier at 2024 SXSW Film Festival Austin Texas.
Writer - Producer Travis Jeffery
Travis is best known for his roles in Gallipoli, Universal Pictures’ Unbroken, anzac girls and Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean. His other credits include Top End Wedding, Danger Close, The Preacher, Frayed and Bloody Hell. Travis recently played Thomas Nickels in Before Dawn, Henry Jambor in Last King Of The Cross and Constable Paul Perry in smash hit Heart Break High. See Travis in 20th Century’s The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Director of Photography Kate Cornish
Travis is best known for his roles in Gallipoli, Universal Pictures’ Unbroken, anzac girls and Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean. His other credits include Top End Wedding, Danger Close, The Preacher, Frayed and Bloody Hell. Travis recently played Thomas Nickels in Before Dawn, Henry Jambor in Last King Of The Cross and Constable Paul Perry in smash hit Heart Break High. Travis has just finished filming 20th Century’s The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Producer Elizabeth Middleton
Elizabeth is a creative producer with her first feature in pre production with the British Film Institute. Dusty will be Elizabeth’s third short film, following award-winning short films, SURPRI! and BELONGING. Elizabeth has extensive experience working in the film and television industry. With a background as a development executive in London and a writer’s assistant on various TV shows. Elizabeth has also worked in acquisitions and production investment at Icon Film Distribution, Screen Australia and BBC Studios London.
Producer - 1st AD Valentin Lang
Valentin Lang has produced and written a slew of independent short films and web-series, alongside working in production on some of Australia’s biggest TV series. In 2021, Valentin co-wrote the Australian Web Series Domesticated which won several awards in Web-Series Festivals globally (Seoul Web-fest, Made in the West). He worked as a 3rd AD in Last Kings of the Cross and is currently working as 2nd AD on Home and Away. His latest project is a short comedy horror film The Boogey Man.
Co-Producer Vincent Power
Vincent Power is a Sydney-based Producer. Vincent’s career has been a strange mash-up of experiences across the filmmaking process. Starting with two years of Writing and Directing shorts, then Camera, Lighting and Editing for several Advertising and Journalism Agencies across four years. In 2019, his career path shifted towards Assistant Directing, Location Management and finally, Producing. Most notably, he Co-Produced 5 seasons of the Screen Australia funded Fantasy-Comedy series 1 For All (2019 – 2022). Recently, he concluded a full-time position in Art Department on the Feature; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2023).
Production Design Dane Hallett
Dane is An adept concept designer, creature artist and prop maker, Dane Hallett has earned a reputation for his passion, broad skill set and his interdisciplinary ability to carry a design from concept to creation. In addition to the illustration work for Alien: Covenant, his work has also been featured in productions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Wolverine, Aquaman and notably several hero vehicles and props on the Academy Award-winning Mad Max: Fury Road.
Head of Makeup Mariel McClorey
Mariel is an independent makeup and special effects artist based in Sydney, Australia. Her wide skill set includes special effects, prosthetics, puppets and more character based work utilising her background in fine arts and fabrication. Mariel’s film and tv credits include Thor: Ragnorok, Hacksaw Ridge, Mad Max Fury Rd, The Wolverine, Cleverman and Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead. She is currently designing makeup for Cabaret playing in Sydney now.
Costume Designer Leiahn Brown
Leiahn is a young and emerging, Sydney-based Costume Designer. Her creative eye has allowed her to construct, style and design for the upcoming documentary Make It Look Real, and other short films such as The Boogey Man. Leiahn has also been a part of the Costume team on various other productions. These include, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Last King of the Cross, The Twelve, Barons and House of Gods.
Composer Luke Altman
Luke is an APRA and AACTA nominated composer. He studied composition with Peter Brideoake at Adelaide University, where he was awarded the Dr. Ruby Davy Prize and the Alex Burnard Scholarship. In recent years he has composed for the screen through his scores for The Leunig Fragments (2019) for which he was nominated for an aacta award, Fell (Sydney Film Prize nominee, 2014) and transfusion (2022) starring Sam Worthington.
Executive Producer Ari Haralambis
Executive Producer Craig Cowdrey
Press
Dusty may be one of the most interesting and unique explorations of grief ever made – Short Film Review
Cinema Australia Podcast #111 | Travis Jeffery
Top Australian shorts announced for St Kilda Film Festival
Jeremy Lindsay Taylor takes on directing with short ‘Dusty’ amid acting flourish
Matthew Fox - LOST
A gem. So moving. Embraces grief and loss with depth and honesty while also some humour… beautifully acted, and directed with a pov that feels fresh and powerful.
Joe Hartwick Jr. - Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Dusty is the perfect execution of emotion, heart and humor through the lens of grief. Such a rich character piece is not something I’m accustomed to seeing so well done in short format film. I’d be interested to see a series based on this.
Jackie van Beek - The Breaker Upperers
Dusty is a visceral, high octane and beautifully crafted journey into grief.
Peter Andrikidis - East West 101
Fabulous Film. Performances, Cinematography and Editing exemplary!
Jonathan Gavin - The Beautiful Lie
Vivid, sharply observed, beautifully made. It captures so much in such a short space of time. And it’s also funny and ironic and sincere.
Matthew Eeles - Cinema Australia
Wow! What a film. This is powerful stuff. It hit me hard.