Set among the cane fields in North Queensland, Australia’s South Sea Islander community has played a crucial role in bringing Stan original series Black Snow to life.
With 45 productions either currently being filmed, in post-production or broadcast during the past two years year in the Sunshine State, it’s no wonder the state’s Premier was keen to promote the six-part drama series.
“Black Snow is a six-part murder mystery drama series, illustrating an historical insight into the South Sea Islander community in Queensland,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
Filmed entirely on location in North Queensland, and employing cast and crew from the South Sea Islander community around which the storyline is set, the cold-case thriller is set to bring an estimated $10 million into the state economy and create around 550 jobs for Queenslanders, according to Screen Queensland.
With co-funding from Screen Queensland, the Premier said they’ve injected almost $230 million into the state’s economy and created thousands of jobs for cast, crew and extras.
She took to social media to reveal some behind-the-scenes images of Black Snow in production late last year.
All six episodes dropped on Stan on New Year’s Day.
Tweet from @AnnastaciaMP
Unearthing a cold case
Black Snow is a six-part, one-hour murder mystery set in a small town in North Queensland with deep ties to the Australian South Sea Islander community.
Starring Travis Fimmel (Vikings), the crime drama combines the character-driven storytelling of a coming-of-age drama with the mystery of a classic whodunit.
The years 1994 and 2019 are linked by the opening of a high school time capsule and the cold-case killing of teenager Isabel Baker played by newcomer Talijah Blackman-Corowa.
Her sister, Hazel, is played by another new star, Jemmason Power, alongside Brooke Satchwell (Mr Inbetween), Alexander England (Alien: Covenant), Erik Thomson (Packed to the Rafters), Kym Gyngell (Wakefield) and Rob Carlton (Total Control).
The series will also feature the screen debut of Australian music sensation Ziggy Ramo.
The storylines run parallel with young Isabel Baker driving the 1994 events, and Detective Cormack those of the present day.
According to the official Stan synopsis, the story is set in 1994 in Ashford, North Queensland, where a group of high school students are working on a time capsule.
“One week before the capsule is buried, Isabel Baker is murdered. The crime shocks the small town and devastates Isabel’s Australian South Sea Islander community.
“The case is never solved, the killer never found.
“Twenty-five years later, opening the time capsule unearths a letter from Isabel that sheds new light on her unsolved murder.”
The investigation is reopened and Detective Sergeant James Cormack (Fimmel), from the State Cold Case Unit, arrives in Ashford to begin the search for Isabel’s killer.
Over the next episodes, a complex story unfolds, with the investigation concentrating on people she once knew in town, what she witnessed, and why she was killed.
One of Black Snow‘s creative team members, Kaylene Butler, said providing opportunities for First Nations practitioners was crucial for the film and television sector and their community.
‘Starting conversations’
“The film industry provides an opportunity to tell stories through a black lens and invites viewers into our world.
“As a whole network of gifted, created and generous people, we are cheering each other on, and we are opening those closed doors and creating opportunities for our mob.
“There is a reason for the season and the season is now! An idea is great, but to do it is deadly!,” she told Screen Queensland before filming started last year.
Actor Alexander England plays the present day Anton Biachi, who was in love with Baker as a teenager at high school, told 9Entertainment the series is “unlike anything anyone has ever seen”.
He said he was optimistic the show will “start conversations” in households across Australia.
“My story is 25 years [after the murder], and we meet these characters again,” he said.
“Anton is clearly still affected by that act of violence; losing Isabella is clearly still affecting him and he’s sort of stunted. He’s almost never moved past that point.
Teaching as entertainment
“This is a story that’s teaching me things I didn’t know.
“There’s part of Australia’s history [displayed] as well, and it’s got this Australian South Sea Islander element to it that is a really fascinating and unique world.
“We’ve also got new faces that people haven’t seen before, bringing all of this wealth of life experience and lived emotion to the screen.
“And secondly, I just think it’s really cool that there are those two timelines, and in both timelines you’re getting towards a revelation.”
In a statement from Stan, “Black Snow acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which the series is being produced, including the Ngaro Gia and Juru people of the Birra Gubba Nation, and the Australian South Sea Islander community and their significant place in Queensland’s history”.
Their chief content officer Cailah Scobie said that without the support of the Australian South Sea Islander community of North Queensland, the series “would not be possible”.
England added that the story was “important to the Australian South Sea Islander community … so there’s a great responsibility there”.
“We’ve got an incredible amount of talent in front of and behind the camera, but this is a distinctly Australian story, and it’s a South Sea Islander story.”
