Yankunytjatjara sisters and filmmakers Pearl and Lilla Berry will premiere their debut feature The Debt at Adelaide Film Festival in 2026 after securing production funding as winning selection of a leading screen development initiative.
The horror film follows internationally acclaimed and released features Monolith and Lesbian Space Princess as the third project backed by South Australian Film Corporation, Screen Australia and Adelaide Film Festival co-funded initiative Film Lab: New Voices
It's a "life changing" opportunity for their first feature, Pearl and Lilla Berry said alongside their team, receiving the $600,000 in grant funding.
Co-written by Pearl Berry and Piri Eddy, produced by Lilla Berry and directed by Johanis Lyons-Reid, The Debt follows Anna and her 10-year-old ward, alone on a secluded estate, who are trapped in an ordeal which will settle Anna's debt to society.
Film Lab: New Voices offers three South Australian filmmaking teams a program of skills development and mentoring over 12 months to work on their debut low-budget feature film script, with one team securing the funding at the end of the year.
"We are thrilled to be this year's selected Film Lab: New Voices team. We can't thank enough everyone who has supported the project so far at the SAFC, Screen Australia and Adelaide Film Festival, as well as our development mentors and all our friends, family and peers," The Berry sisters, Eddy and Lyons-Reid said in a joint statement.
"This opportunity is life changing. To be given the green light for our first feature is both incredibly exciting and humbling.
"We created Dinosaur Disco Films to craft stories that stand out and speak to our current moment, and we hope The Debt will achieve those things, as well as elevate the hugely talented South Australian film creatives we are privileged to work with.
"We can't wait to share The Debt with audiences at next year's Adelaide Film Festival and beyond."
The four have previously worked together, including their commissioned documentary Black Empire focused on rapper Jimblah for NITV and SBS Viceland via the Curious Australia series in 2022.
Launched in 2021, Film Lab: New Voices' previous projects have gone on to success.
Sci-fi Monolith premiered at Adelaide Film Festival (AFF), then to international audiences at Texas-base festival SXSW in 2023 before cinema releases in Australia and the US.
Lesbian Space Princess won awards at AFF, Sydney Film Festival and Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) this year, with its sales rights picked up in Australia and New Zealand, and internationally.
South Australia Film Corporation chief executive Kate Croser is thrilled to see The Debt follow.
"The Film Lab: New Voices program is all about discovering and launching the next wave of talented South Australian filmmakers, and we are so proud to provide a platform for new and diverse voices and stories through it.
"We are delighted that The Debt will continue to deliver on that aim, capturing the perspectives of young First Nations filmmakers – and sisters – Lilla Berry and Pearl Berry.
"I congratulate the entire team of The Debt on their bold and distinctive concept, which we are pleased to support for production."
Screen Australia director of narrative content Louise Gough congratulated the team, adding their horror is one with "visceral power that will have audiences here and around the world on the edge of their seats".