Christmas Down Under, the latest venture for Ignite Pictures, began production earlier this week in Sydney. From director Louis Mandylor (My Big Fat Greek Wedding & My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2), the feature film stars John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), Joanne Samuel (Mad Max), Justine Kacir (Home and Away) and Logie Award winner Paul O’Brien (Home and Away).
The family film tells the story of tightly wound Ellie, who flies to Australia and enlists the help of an Aboriginal tour guide and a YouTube famous Uber driver to find her husband and his eclectic family, and along the way, find her true self. All before Christmas. An independently financed film, Christmas Down Under will be filming at some of Sydney’s most famous tourist destinations over the next few weeks, including Bondi Beach and Circular Quay.
Adam Horner, director of Ignite Pictures and producer of Christmas Down Under explained that this will be the first time Mandylor will be directing a project on home soil since he helmed the massively successful My Big Fat Greek Wedding & My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
“This isn’t just your average Christmas movie. It is so contemporary and relevant to today’s society. With this being an independently produced film, we’ve been able to retain a level of creative authenticity and stay true to the story written by Leigh Scott.” Horner commented “Louis and I have worked together many times before and I couldn’t imagine anyone else directing this project. We have managed to assemble an incredible team and cast for this one. I am very excited for audiences around the world to see the magic this team is creating next year,” Horner added.

Christmas Down Under will be released in time for Christmas 2018.