Fireworks is a coming-of-age comedy short film. It follows protagonist Luke, a lonely teenager who downloads Grindr on New Years Eve and attempts to lose his virginity in the final hours of the year.

This project draws inspiration from films such as Lady Bird, Eighth Grade and Booksmart. This film explores themes of friendship, desire and teenage angst, and realistically represents how genuinely lonely it can be to be a queer teenager. This film finds humour as well as sincerity in the misguided (and messy) things you do when you’re desperate for someone to connect with. There’s so much pressure placed on sex, dating and hooking up when you’re a teenager, but when you’re gay and don’t know any other gay people, this pressure can be extremely isolating. Fireworks proposes that growing up isn’t about how much sex you have or if you have a boyfriend, it's about finding confidence in who you are, and cherishing the relationships around you. 

The majority of the cast and crew in this film identify as LGBTQ+. We believe it’s vital that queer people tell their stories. 

Sam McGowan
DIRECTOR

he/him

Amyl connoisseur Sam wants this film to present a realistic, humorous and empathetic portrayal of what it means to grow up queer. He has had previous success in his telling of personal queer narratives- his previous short films have shown at many local film festivals including Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and Geelong Pride Film Festival, as well as international festivals in America, Vietnam and India. In 2019 his anti smoking advert Fuming was the winner of MQFF and Quit Victoria’s filmmaking competition, and last year he produced the short Intimate Partner for MQFF and Creative Victoria's Queer Lives in Isolation series.

Mischa Plant

PRODUCER

they/them

Mischa will be working tirelessly to ensure that all aspects of the film’s production go down as smoothly as their favourite cocktail, a lemon cheesecake. They are excited to be involved in the making of such a fun and relatable story with a genius cast and crew!

Lawrence McCrabb

CINEMATOGRAPHER

he/him

Lawrence is a self-proclaimed camera prodigy and can’t wait to get stuck into filming this unique story (between his time at the skatepark!).

Kasia Silva and Amelia Childs

PRODUCTION DESIGNERS

they/them and she/her

Skin care and UTI enthusiast Kasia and professional hustler/party queen Amelia are pairing up to form an authentic and genuine visual representation of the characters and narrative, a representation which will evolve over the course of the night. See some of their previous work at @babygoldproductiondesign on insta!

Bridget Webster
EDITOR

she/her

Bug superfan Bridget, who has cried in every park in the Eastern suburbs, is super keen to perfect the comedic timing in the edit, whilst highlighting the tender heart of the film.

Marcus Mason

SOUND DESIGNER

he/him

Marcus will be designing the sound for this film. He enjoys listening to sounds and is looking forward to listening to the sounds of this film!

This is our graduate film, and is very important to us; so we will be funding the majority of this project ourselves. However, we need your help to raise the remainder of the costs!

Donations to Fireworks will be split between the major departments, contributing to things such as:

• Equipment hire
• Casting
• Catering
• Costumes and makeup
• Hiring an intimacy coordinator
• Music licensing
• Colour grading
• Marketing
• .....and much more!