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I've got a great short film for you all to watch today called The Defector. It's a conspiracy thriller that is set during the Cold War. The movie is inspired by a true story that tells the war's greatest unsolved mystery.

In 1967 Prime Minister Holt disappeared without a trace. His body was never found. Find out what really happened, and witness his last days in office through this tense conspiracy thriller.

The movie was written and directed by Scott Mannion and he did an awesome job. The production quality is top notch, the acting is solid, and the story is awesomely intriguing. It's a slow-burn thriller that I think many of you will enjoy.

This definitely isn't a historical biopic, there are some interesting elements added to the story that I won't spoil for you. When talking about the direction of the film Mannion told Smh:

"A film is an idea,...

The week before Christmas of 1967, Harold Holt - the Prime Minister of Australia - disappeared. The governing head of state of the nation was simply gone. He has never been heard from again. No body has ever been found. The best guess of police is that he simply washed away to sea in some sort of accident but, really, nobody will ever know. This is all fact and the speculation that has swirled around Holt's disappearance ever since has become the starting point for writer-director Scott Mannion's short film The Defector. 1967, the height of the Red Scare. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is embroiled in a power struggle after discovering his spymaster has illegally investigated and exposed Red sympathisers embedded within Holt's administration....

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Poster art by Jeremy Love.

1967, the height of the Red Scare. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is embroiled in a power struggle after discovering his spymaster has illegally investigated and exposed Red sympathisers embedded within Holt's administration.

That's the premise for an ambitious new Australian short film set in the period leading up to the Holt's famous disappearance at Victoria's Cheviot Beach.

The Defector is written, directed and produced by Scott Mannion and executive produced by Antonia Barnard, Nick Cole, Greg Dick and Simon de Bruyn, who describes the short as "an Australian spy film made to world class standards."

Mannion came to de Bruyn's attention in his capacity as an acquisitions executive with international sales agent and production company Xyz Films..

"As part of my role at Xyz, and its joint venture Xyz-gfc, I am tracking some of the best genre talent in this region and Scott had quickly...

It was back in 2014 that we pointed our readers to a crowdfunding campaign for an Australian short thriller titled simply Holt. Using conspiracy theories around the actual disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt in 1967 as its launching point, the campaign promised a classy political thriller from a high end team led by writer-director Scott Mannion. And now the film is completed under the new title of The Defector. 1967, the height of the Red Scare. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is embroiled in a power struggle after discovering his spymaster has illegally investigated and exposed Red sympathisers embedded within Holt's administration. I've actually had a chance to see the completed film already and it's pretty damn fantastic. And while I can't share...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

"What is reality? How do we perceive it? What is the nature of the universe and our place in it? These questions are very interesting to me, and are what drives most science and scientists." That's director Scott Mannion talking to us about the line of thinking which inspired his soon-to-shoot scientific short film Anima.   A blend of drama and the surreal, Mannion describes Anima as "a man's journey of rebirth as he tries to escape his addiction to technology and reconnect with his humanity and the natural world. Anyone who has ever thought technology is taking over our lives will enjoy this film, as will those who like sci-fi.