Tony Rogers’ latest project ‘Bruce’ takes home Best Drama at Online Video Awards Australia
In the latest of what is becoming a string of festival selections, the ground-breaking web-series Bruce, directed by the critically acclaimed Tony Rogers (Wilfred, Rats and Cats, How To Talk Australians), has been awarded ‘Best Drama’ at the Online Video Awards in Brisbane last night.
Written by Mat Blackwell (Good News Week, The Glass House) and Warwick Holt (The Project, Good News Week), Bruce has broken through genres; a web-series with jaw dropping production values, and a core of both black-comedy and drama. Bruce rewrites Australia’s convict beginnings with a wry, deadpan comic voice, by taking historical facts and rubbing them up against the modern sensibilities of this ensemble of funny, flawed, and ultimately endearing characters.
Produced by Jason Byrne Productions and funded by Screen Australia, Bruce is now an official selection at The Melbourne Web Fest, The Toronto Web Fest, and the D.C Webfest and shows no signs of slowing down.
Overview: A gritty black comedy, set in an ordinary Aussie share-house that just happens to be a prison tent in Sydney Cove, 1788.
Bruce Williamson is a modern man out of time, whose simple plan of following his soulmate Daisy to the new land by getting arrested backfires severely, trapping him in a violent prison camp at the edge of the world. Rather than the love of his life, who knows their relationship can never work out here, Bruce is stuck in a tent with irrepressible bogan Garry – who claims to be Bruce’s “best mate”, and, despite what Bruce might hope, probably is – and Mick, a well-read, philosophical, and sensitive monolith of a man, who is also possibly a brutal serial killer.
The wider world is no friendlier, between the brutal marines, the incompetent leaders of the colony, and the mysterious local people who have had their way of life challenged.
“Bruce” rewrites Australia’s convict beginnings with a wry, deadpan comic voice, by taking historical facts and rubbing them up against the modern sensibilities of this ensemble of funny, flawed, and ultimately endearing characters.