Director Robert Connolly thanks locals at pre-screening of locally shot movie Blueback in Albany

Albany was treated to a preview screening of the locally filmed movie Blueback on Tuesday ahead of its official release next year.

Writer-director Robert Connolly attended the screening of the film, based on Albany-raised author Tim Winton’s 1997 novel of the same name, which was filmed in Bremer Bay last year.

The family-friendly film follows marine biologist Abby Jackson, who returns to her home town on the WA coast after her mother, a lifelong environmental activist, becomes ill.

As Abby reflects on her childhood, through flashbacks the audience meets the blue groper — who she named Blueback — that inspired her own interest in protecting the oceans and the bay they live on.

It stars Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg, Clarence Ryan, Eric Bana and Erik Thompson.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, and had its Australian premiere in Perth on Monday.

Local members of the film’s crew and supporters packed the pre-release screening at Orana Cinemas, hosted by the Great Southern Development Commission.

It was the first of two preview screenings in the Great Southern, with another in Bremer Bay on Wednesday.

Connolly, known for his films Paper Planes, Balibo, and The Dry, addressed the crowd before the screening, and said he chose to film in Bremer Bay on Winton’s advice.

“He wrote a list of places and the very first place he said was Bremer Bay,” Connolly said. “We did a tour of the region, and Bremer was the first place that we came to, and I fell in love with it immediately.

“It felt like the book had been written about that incredible place.

“I felt the beauty, I felt the muscularity of it, I felt the community of it.”

Connolly thanked the people of Bremer Bay for their support during the months-long production.

He said because of COVID-19 restrictions at the time of filming, much of the crew had to be sourced locally.

“We really did depend in a really tricky time on as much support as we could get,” Connolly said.

Blueback will be released in cinemas across Australia on January 1.