The Story

Skyler and River are forced to confront their rocky marriage when their friend Dallas presents them with a gift from beyond the grave, himself… stuffed.

River and Skyler’s stale and monotonous marriage is thrown into disarray when the taxidermied body of their friend Dallas arrives on their doorstep. Will Dallas's rapidly decomposing body breathe new life into their expired relationship, helping them to decide if it's really worth trying to save or if it’s time to bury the dead. Maybe some things just aren't worth preserving. 

Director's statement

Relationships, at the best of times, are complicated beasts. And because of this, they have a tendency to drag out; surviving and perpetuating long after they’ve “died”. Unthreading the fabric that holds us to another can become more difficult when you throw in a marriage and a mortgage. It is in this liminal state, which has always fascinated me, that STUFFED exists.

I am constantly confounded when people fall victim to the societal expectation to enter into, and remain in, a subpar and unfulfilling relationship. I am interested in this sacrifice of autonomy and freedom that people make when they become, and importantly remain, codependent. I think it is a great shame that as a society, we consider walking away from a relationship to be a loss; disregarding the vast potential for development and growth that may ensue. 

This feeling of letting go and moving on is where I want to focus in Stuffed. At the heart of this story is a dramatic death of a relationship that can no longer withstand preservation attempts, and what better to metaphorise this than a rapidly deteriorating taxidermied human.

Cast:  

Giuseppe D’Allura

Giuseppe D’Allura is an actor based in Perth, Australia. He started acting at the Warehouse Workshop Studio in Gold Coast, QLD. Where his entire focus was on honing his screen acting craft. For the three years he spent there, his coach encouraged him to audition for drama schools. After many times disagreeing with Phil (his coach) on why he would get in, he relented & finally gave it a shot… a couple years later he’s in his final year at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (Acting). Giuseppe has worked as a music video director, fight choreographer and has already been in a handful of commercials, music videos & short films. Giuseppe is super excited to play the role of Dallas in ‘Stuffed’.

Karina Skala

Karina is Sydney born and bred. She moved to Melbourne to complete a film degree and maybe do a bit of mucking about, figuring things out. During that time, Karina travelled around Europe and the Americas, working in retail, doing some film related work, and making some good friends along the way. After graduating, she moved to Perth to train at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Karina fell in love with the west coast, where she lives close to the beach and tries to solve all problems by just ‘going to the sea’. And on that very ‘swimming with dolphins’ note; she loves a bit of yoga, sunrise and sunsets are always a go, and a happy gelato on a Sunday afternoon is pretty ideal. Being in this acting and storytelling business is always an adventure, and Karina feels lucky to be involved in this project.

Dom Masterson

Dominic is a WA based third year acting student at WAAPA. Raised in England, Dominic took influence from the myriad of personalities within London and fell in love with capturing the essences of people across the city. He came to Perth at 11 years of age and was able to grow up within a highly supportive local theatre community, which encouraged him to pursue the acting program at WAAPA. Since 2020 Dominic has enjoyed a variety of roles, and won the shared poetry prize from the WA Speech and Drama Teachers Association in 2021 alongside a fellow classmate. Now entering his final year, he is thoroughly excited at the opportunity to undertake the role of River, and delve into the screen work to help bring ‘Stuffed’, to life. 

Crew:

Director:

 Alex Power is a young filmmaker from Brisbane, Australia. He has experience across multiple departments in international feature films and television series, such as Ron Howard’s upcoming film ‘Thirteen Lives’ and NBC’s ‘Joe vs Carol’.  Alex’s experience with large scale productions has allowed him to channel his insights into smaller, independent projects. Alex has a passion for collaborating with local artists across a range of mediums and forms, varying from music videos, documentaries, fashion campaigns to short form film. Recently, Alex was the associate producer on the winning film ‘Fertiliser’ for the 48 hour Film Festival in Brisbane. With a few more projects set for release this year, he is excited to focus his attention to bringing this original story to life.

Producer:

Brodie Leuba is a passionate and driven producer with ambitious dreams of high concept CGI blockbusters. For now Brodie likes to tell stories of pseudo-real fantasies like grand larceny in the end of days, alien hunting grandpa’s and now marriage counseling from beyond the grave. Brodie uses his stories to remind people of the grand adventures there are to be had in the small memories we create each day and that there is no reason those memories can’t involve monsters.

Writer:

 Former pharmacist Basil has turned his pen towards writing scripts of another kind, studying a Master in Screen studies majoring in Screenwriting. He has previously worked as the creator, writer, and star of the webseries Poolboys and has several upcoming projects

Cinematographer:

Dasha Melnik is a cinematographer with a focus on using a unique visual language to tell compelling stories. Originally from Saint Petersburg, Dasha was a journalist before moving to Perth nine years ago. 

This is where she discovered her deep passion for photography. It took time to learn the language, so cameras and photo media became a way of expressing herself. Dasha is now an established photographer, with various exhibitions throughout the Perth region. For her, it was a natural evolution to turn to cinematography, immersing herself into filmmaking and drawing inspiration from classic literature. Dasha aims to use her skills to express the different and often difficult truths every individual experiences.

Editor:

 Hamish is an up-and-coming screen stories editor from Fremantle. He is currently studying for his Masters of Screen Studies at the WA Screen Academy, after previously completing a Double Bachelor of Media & Communications and Arts at ECU. He aspires one day to edit feature films but for now is thrilled to be working on a project as fun and as challenging as Stuffed. As the idea was originally conceived by him, he is grateful that he will be working on it with an exciting cast and crew and can't wait to get stuck in.

Sound engineer:

Jake Isard has always pursued music as his career pathway. From the beginning of his musical career at the age of 13, Jake dreamed of studying at WAAPA. Graduating with his Bachelor in Music, he began cover and original works with many musicians around Australia. He also teaches music at various schools and academies around Perth.

 Upon completing his degree at WAAPA, he began a Bachelor of Creative Media where he developed his interests in recording, mixing, editing and filming, graduating with a double major in Sound and Screen Production. This experience encouraged Jake to increase his knowledge in sound for screen with a strong interest in immersive and virtual technologies. He is now undertaking a Masters in Screen Studies to develop his skills in sound, using his experience and knowledge in music to establish himself further in the world of sound.

Our goal of $2500 will be dedicated to producing the best possible version of STUFFED. 

The primary expenses will be the cost of suitable locations, some quite complicated sets, costumes and props and special effects make-up to make sure our corpse looks extra gross.

By supporting STUFFED you are helping local film makers make great films. Your support goes a long way to ensuring the great quality of WA made movies. We appreciate any support you can offer, if financial support is not possible for you please share our campaign with your family and friends and follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with STUFFED’s progress.

STUFFED is produced by WA Screen Academy (WASA) students, featuring third year actors from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).  By donating to this page you are donating to the students involved in this project.  No funds will be received by Edith Cowan University, WASA or WAAPA.