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SBS reveals The Tailings cast

Emerging performers Mabel Li & Tegan Stimson will lead Tasmanian short series coming to SBS on Demand.

SBS has named emerging performers, Mabel Li and Tegan Stimson to lead the cast of new short-form drama series The Tailings, now shooting on the West Coast of Tasmania.

The SBS on Demand web series invites audiences to a remote community to follow a daughter’s investigation into her father’s death. The 6 X 10-minute mystery drama series set amidst the West Coast Wilderness, the eerie and rugged landscape setting the scene for teenage Jas’s maverick investigation. The funeral of Jas’s father coincides with the arrival of a newly-graduated schoolteacher, Ruby who must also deal with her own unresolved issues. As the mystery unfolds, secrets are exposed and the two are challenged to confront the strange and paradoxical layers of grief.

The all-female key creatives are Tasmanian writer Caitlin Richardson, director Stevie Cruz-Martin (Pulse, Marrow) and producer by Liz Doran (Please Like Me, Molly) with Richard Kelly (The Gloaming) and Steve Thomas (Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky).

The cast also includes Tassie Kris McQuade (Rosehaven, Wentworth), Victoria Haralabidou (Deep Water), Nic English (Reckoning) and Tasmanian actors including Shaun Martindale, Harry Prior, Tai Nguyen, Michael Earnshaw, Jane Hamilton Foster and Sarah Cooper.

Tegan Stimson said “I am excited to have the opportunity to be involved in The Tailings and to collaborate with such a talented and experienced cast to bring this amazing story to life. The series tells such a powerful and relevant story, entailing many strong female roles, who have such depth and complexity.

“Growing up in Tasmania, there is always a sense of strong community and you are never far from nature. As a young Tasmanian, I identify with this story and wish to help portray an entertaining show that can resonate with audiences.”

Mabel Li said: “I am so thrilled to be filming in the beautiful lutruwita and to be working alongside some stellar female creatives, and I feel incredibly proud to be representing a modern young Chinese Australian woman in this story.

“The West Coast’s moody mountainous backdrop has been the perfect setting to this dark, mysterious yet incredibly quirky story. Being isolated all in one place far from home has added an extra layer of intimacy to this production and I’m so excited for the world to see it.”

SBS Director of Television and Online Content, Marshall Heald said: “SBS is thrilled to commence production in Tasmania this week and to be creating exciting opportunities for local and emerging talent. The Tailings portrays a community living on the margins, both socially and geographically, providing a rare insight into remote Tasmania, a community seldom represented on-screen. The Tailings responds to the growing audience appetite for short-form digital content, joining AACTA-Award winning series Robbie Hood in SBS’s premium offering of bite-sized dramas.”

It will premiere on SBS On Demand in 2021.

The Tailings is a Good Lark production in association with 2Jons and Roar Film for SBS. Principal production investment from Screen Australia, in association with Screen Tasmania. Financed with support from Topic. SBS Executive Producer Amanda Duthie.

The Tailings is being filmed on lutruwita Aboriginal land and waterways. Production would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Palawa people, and Elders past, present and emerging.

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