Story to bring disability representation to big screen

A script developed to bring people who are often under-represented on screen will be brought to life in a short film written by a Rockingham woman.

Writing scripts for the past 15 years, Tina Fielding said she had spent a long time developing a story that brought representation for people with Down syndrome and the LGBTIQ on to the big screen.

Sparkles follows a 37-year-old woman with Down syndrome who runs away from home and embarks on a journey from Kalgoorlie to Perth, forming an unlikely friendship with an outback drag queen.

The development of the short film has been aided with a funding injection from Screenwest through the Elevate and Generate Initiatives. The Elevate and Generate Initiatives are skills development programs that provide support for the development and production of eight scripted short films or web series.

Screenwest talent development manager Eva Di Blasio said the high calibre of creative talent in this year’s projects were “exceptional with a strong number of diverse voices being represented on and off the screen”.

Living with Down syndrome herself, Fielding said she wanted to bring people with a disability into film.

Fielding said production on the film would start in July, and was set to come out in the next year.

“I’ve worked on this for such a long time and now I actually get to make a film. It means a lot to me,” she said.