WHAT IS BROKEN WINGS?

For just one moment forget what you do or don’t believe. What’s plausible or implausible and just let your spirit of adventure take over.
Around 13 years ago, we began hearing some incredible stories about Spitfire aircraft buried in the ground up near Oakey in Queensland. They seemed too ridiculous to be true but we both like a good story and love old aircraft, so it was worth checking out. Little did we know that what started out as a passing interest would turn into what it has today. Broken Wings is the documentary that follows our search to find them, and this is your chance to be a part of that search.

SO FAR, SO GOOD.

We’ve spent literally thousands and thousands of hours researching the legend of the Oakey Spitfires. It’s taken us all over Australia and indeed the world, following leads, talking to people, interviewing them, but most of all researching, researching, researching. Many of those interviews will be included in the documentary and include some wonderful characters who’ve helped us piece the puzzle together. Their stories, insights and opinions of what went on at Oakey have contributed greatly to the documentary. It’s these stories that are fuelling our search for the Spitfires and where the adventure really begins.




MORE THAN JUST ANOTHER AIRCRAFT DOCUMENTARY.

It might appear that Broken Wings is simply a documentary about finding old aircraft. In a sense it is, but it’s far more than that. We want to make our documentary not only informative, but entertaining as well. The Spitfire is more than just an aircraft. It’s a thing of beauty, an object of desire that’s almost taken on a life of its own. No other aircraft ever built has the same effect on people as the Spitfire does. Overlay that with the thrill of being caught up in a modern day treasure hunt and you’ve got an irresistible film that’s sure to have broad appeal, particularly if we discover even just one aircraft.

WHY CROWDFUNDING?

We began shooting Broken Wings in August 2006 at our own expense to get the project off the ground. Of course filming of any kind, even the simplest of productions, costs a great deal of money and obtaining further funding to move the production forward has become very difficult particularly following the effects of the GFC. Additionally, funding for documentaries via traditional government sponsored avenues has become increasingly challenging. Even the cable networks and their respective programs that have expressed great interest in Broken Wings, are no longer willing to fund documentary productions themselves. That’s why we thought crowdfunding could be an exciting way to raise the necessary funds and at the same time, get a passionate group of supporters behind us.




WHERE WILL YOUR FUNDING GO?

We’ve set our crowdfunding target at $130,000. While that may appear to be a considerable sum, a project on this scale eats into the dollars pretty quickly. Luckily for us Karl ran his own production company for around 15 years and James has been involved in over 100 television commercial shoots, some with budgets in the millions of dollars, so we both know how to accurately and cost efficiently plan a project on this scale.
Some of our more significant costs include camera equipment hire, Ground Penetrating Radar hire, production equipment hire, crew costs, post production 3D, on line editing, travel, post production audio, film library licensing, and so on. It’s complex and challenging, but with over 40 years experience between us, we have the capabilities to deliver the project on budget. A budget that far exceeds what we require from Pozible to complete Broken Wings. As you can see we've also put together a meaningful and hopefully valuable list of rewards. No matter whether you contribute $10 or $1,000, we value your contribution most sincerely and look forward to keeping in touch as production progresses.




WHY SHOULD YOU GET INVOLVED?

One theory behind the burial of the aircraft is that it was done purely for posterity. So we feel we have the opportunity to honour the men that buried the aircraft. We can almost carry on their legacy by attempting to find their aircraft and hand it back to Australia as they may have hoped that someone would one day do. In fact, if we’re successful in locating any aircraft, the first of these will be donated to the Museum of Australian Army Flying in Oakey, for future generations to admire and enjoy. This is your opportunity to be a part of history, and share in our passion to get Broken Wings completed.

WHERE TO NEXT?

What is it that will make Broken Wings so special? The simple fact that it’s a compelling, modern adventure story that everyone can become a part of. But will we unearth any of these legendary aircraft? At this stage that’s anyone’s guess. But with the amount of information we’ve been able to uncover over thirteen years, we’ve been able to narrow the search area down to a number of promising locations. Whatever the result, the Oakey legend makes for an exciting documentary.
With your support, we can truly bring this dream to fruition. One that we hope you wish to share with us and come along for the ride. Hopefully you’ll get swept up in the thrill of the hunt, and the possibility of finding the aircraft and with a bit of luck, witness history in the making. We’re most grateful to you for giving us the opportunity to present Broken Wings to you. For more information visit our website at:

brokenwings.com.au


ABOUT THE FILM MAKERS
JAMES CARTER - WRITER/RESEARCHER

James has been an advertising copywriter for almost 30 years. In that time has worked across a diverse range of some of Australia’s most recognisable and successful brands including the Australian Defence Force and more recently Mercedes-Benz. Over that time, James has been recognised with many prestigious Australian and international awards for his work. James' work on the Australian Defence Force Recruiting account, saw him team up with Karl von Moller on many television commercials, truly cementing a great working relationship between each other. It’s this relationship and indeed friendship, plus a love for ‘warbirds’ that has led James and Karl to create Broken Wings. James is currently employed at Australia’s most awarded advertising agency Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne as the Creative Group Head on Mercedes-Benz.


KARL VON MOLLER - DIRECTOR/DP

Karl von Moller has a diverse background in cinematography and film production and is in great demand both here in Australia and overseas. Early in his career Karl photographed the AFI award winning short Break & Enter before shooting Freedom Deep, his first feature as principal director of photography. Karl went on to create his own production company based in Melbourne. Karl has shot and directed not only hundreds of television commercials, music videos and documentary films but thirteen feature films and shorts including ‘Storm Warning’ and ‘Long Weekend’. He also shot ‘Not Quite Hollywood’ that had its preview at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. More recently Karl filmed the Australian component of Roger Donaldson’s Bank Job starring Jason Stratham. Karl has won his fair share of awards over the years, particularly throughout Asia and been recognised by the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) on many occasions.

For the past 60 years rumours have been rife regarding buried Spitfires in and around Oakey in Queensland. Some people believe they are just that and in fact no buried aircraft actually exist. On the other hand, there are just as many believers who are absolutely convinced the aircraft are just waiting to be found.

The Broken Wings team fall in to the latter. With all the evidence we’ve collected over 13 years, we believe the aircraft do exist. So while we’ll explore both sides of the argument, we’ll also be attempting to find at east one aircraft and prove the doubters wrong. So the ultimate aim of the documentary is to weigh up both sides of the story and produce an enthralling and entertaining piece of film. That said, there can be no guarantees of finding an aircraft. But we do guarantee a fascinating documentary, no matter what happens.

It’s a story that has, and will continue to demand extensive research and a high level of film-making expertise. With Karl’s experience in both short and long form films and James’ 30 years of writing you can be confident of the outcome.

The project has already received strong interest from both cable and free to air networks. Crowd-funding will give you the opportunity to show your support financially and provide us with the best possible opportunity to locate one or more aircraft and get the documentary completed.

With extensive experience in film and TV production and an extraordinary passion that burns just as strong today as it did when we began 13 years ago, you can be confident that this exciting documentary will be completed, and completed well.