Go remote for stronger stories, says Tailings director Stevie Cruz-Martin

The director of new SBS series The Tailings talks about filmmaking on the remote West Coast of Tasmania, the resilience of local communities and the complexity of tough female characters.

Director Stevie Cruz-Martin was born near the Highlands of Scotland, then moved as a child to Perth, so she knows what it feels like to be outside the centre of the action. In late 2020 she was working on the wild west coast of Tasmania, directing the three-week shoot of The Tailings, an SBS Digital Original short series premiering this Easter.

‘Caitlin Richardson, the writer of the show, talks about how in Tasmania there’s this real separation from the mainland for everyone on the island,’ says Cruz-Martin on the phone from Hobart. She’s flown in from Sydney where she now lives, to attend a premiere screening of the 6 x 10-minute mystery drama in its home territory.

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is Screen Content Lead at Screenhub. She is a writer, film critic and cultural commentator with a PhD in Australian cinema and was the co-host of Australia's longest-running film podcast 'Hell is for Hyphenates'. Rochelle has written a memoir, Fallen, published by Affirm Press. Her second book, Double Happiness, a novel, is out with Midnight Sun on October 1, 2024. Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle Twitter: @Milan2Pinsk