Soapbox Pictures and Moon River’s upcoming tropical noir series Dustfall and SBS Digital Original Homebodies is set to have its world premiere in France next month after being named Series Mania of the Year.
The former, an ABC and BBC co-production, is a Gold Coast adaptation of Vicki Petraitis’ 2022 crime thriller The Unbelieved, starring Anna Torv as veteran detective Tig Pollard. Tig Pollard returns to his hometown of North Gap after staying there for many years to investigate a case, only to find an 18-year-old boy naked in a sugar cane field with no recollection of how he got there.
What begins as a sexual assault case takes a dark turn, and Tig’s search for the truth becomes personal as someone from her past resurfaces, forcing her to confront long-buried secrets of her own adolescence. Kate Box and Jay Ryan are also part of the cast.
After The Party’s Diane Taylor created the series and co-wrote the script with Belinda Chayko and Stuart Page. Torv will serve as executive producer alongside director Xavier Marchand, Daisy Gilbert, Emma Freeman and producer Deb Balderstone. Brett Slay and Rachel O’Quinn served as executive producers for the ABC, which had a major production investment with Screen Australia. The series is being funded in partnership with Screen Queensland, with international sales handled by the federation. Dustfall will be competing as part of the Series Mania International Competition.
Homebodies, which will be screened as part of the Short Form Competition, follows Darcy when she returns home to take care of her estranged mother, only to discover that she has an unexpected housemate. It’s the ghost of my pre-transition teenage self. Darcy must now face her past or risk losing herself completely.
AP Pobjoy and Charlotte Mars wrote the short series, with the former also directing alongside Harry Lloyd. Cyna Strachan produced the project, with Liam Heyyen and Kirsty Fisher handling the EP.
The 2026 Series Mania Festival will be held in Lille, France from March 20th to March 27th.
