Windmill Pictures, the film arm of Adelaide's acclaimed children's theatre company, after 'Girl Asleep' world hit

Harrison Feldman and Bethany White in Girl Asleep, the surreal teen coming-of-age film based on a play by Adelaide Windmill Theatre Co. and inspiring it to form a film-making subsidiary.

Windmill Pictures was launched as a subsidiary of Adelaide’s Windmill Theatre Co. after the international success of 2015 film Girl Asleep that was based on a Windmill play and using the same writer (Matthew Whittet) and director (Rosemary Myers) as the play.

Windmill Pictures would focus on developing screen projects based on the company’s stage plays. Windmill Pictures won a contract from the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) to produce Beep and Mort, a mixed media series for ABC Kids television, in 2021. Beep and Mort was adopted from Windmill’s children’s play Beep, created by Sam Haren, Jonathon Oxlade and Katherine Fyffe.

The Beep and Mort series, for pre-schoolers, was designed by Oxlade, who also worked on the Girl Asleep film, and directed by Rosemary Myers. Oxlade and Myers also worked on several Windmill live shows, including the stage adaptation of Bluey. Myers said making the film version of Girl Asleep was “an incredible creative ride” for Windmill: “Taking Girl Asleep from stage to screen has forged a new and exciting convergence model of live theatre and film for the company and we’re excited to take on more screen projects alongside our theatre work.”  

Nurtured by the Adelaide Film Festival through its artlab and investment fund, Girl Asleep had its international premiere at 2016 Berlin Film festival to critical acclaim and won Australia’s $100,000 richest top film prize at CinefestOZ in Perth. It also played festivals in Stockholm, Buenos Aires and Seattle, where it won the grand jury prize and Futurewave Award. Oscilloscope, a film distribution company founded by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys bought it for release in the United States of America.

Girl Asleep also won best film at the Australian Film Critics Association Awards, The Age critics prize for best Australian feature film at the Melbourne International Film Festival, was nominated for six AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) awards (winning best costume design), best work at the South Australian Screen Awards, and the Foxtel Movies audience award for most popular feature at the Adelaide Film Festival.

Founded in Adelaide in 2002, Windmill Theatre Co took its plays, including many commissioned works, on multiple national and international tours. The company won scores of awards including Helpmanns, a Sydney Theatre award, South Australian Ruby awards, Business SA Export awards and the 2012 Sidney Myer Performing Arts award for excellence – the first awarded to a youth theatre company in Australia.