Nowhere Boys Movie

Multi award-winning ABC3 series starts production on a feature-length movie

The producers of the multi-award winning children's drama series, Nowhere Boys, have started production this month on a special 80-minute feature-length movie titled Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows.

The exceptional television series began when four mismatched teenage boys, Felix (Dougie Baldwin), Andy (Joel Lok), Sam (Rahart Adams) and Jake (Matt Testro), arrive back from a school trip to discover they have returned to an alternative world where they don't exist.

Produced by Matchbox Pictures, directed by David Caesar (Dirty Deeds, Idiot Box, Mullet) and written by Tony Ayres, Rhys Graham and Craig Irvin, the movie picks up a year after the boys crossed dimensions, discovered magic and battled the restoring demon. They are back home in Bremin and are struggling with everyday teenage life. Felix has high hopes for the four heroes. He wants them to push the limits of their magical ability, working as a team to become masters of the arcane. But although he's unwilling to admit it, the boys have grown apart. The boys, once in perfect magical and elemental alignment, are a tangle of rivalry and distrust.

On the verge of separating, the Nowhere Boys are drawn together for one last spell when Felix discovers a magically sealed 'Book of Shadows'. Unwittingly this releases a powerful force of chaos, and the gang is reluctantly drawn into a showdown that threatens their world and all they love…

Having just cracked Hollywood and starring alongside Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys, Angourie Rice (These Final Hours) joins the cast. Returning for the movie are series regulars Darci McDonald (Ellen), Sean Rees-Wemyss (Oscar), Michala Banas (Phoebe), Victoria Thaine (Alice), Ben Keller (Bear), Tamala Shelton (Mia) and Michelle Gerster (Viv).

Tony Ayres, Executive Producer, said "We are stepping up to a whole new level of excitement, action and drama in the feature length version of Nowhere Boys. It's very exciting to have a director with the experience and talent of David Caesar leading the creative team on this new adventure."

"As a fan of Nowhere Boys I'm really excited to be working with the talented cast and crew to help bring this exciting story to the screen," said director David Caesar.

Deirdre Brennan, ABC Head of Children's TV, said "Nowhere Boys has captured the imagination of young audiences in Australia and around the world, so we're thrilled to be working with Matchbox Pictures to continue this exceptional series. With David Caesar as director and a promise of more action, adventure and magic, our ABC3 fans are in for an exciting event."

Early last month, Nowhere Boys was recognised by entertainment industry professionals when it won the competitive Youth Fiction award at the 2015 Rockie Awards. Held at the Banff World Media Festival, the Rockies is the largest competition in entertainment programming which celebrates quality television and digital content across 26 categories and attracts over a thousand entries from more than 40 countries annually.

Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows is produced by Matchbox Pictures with the assistance of Screen Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Film Victoria, and will be distributed internationally by NBCUniversal and in Australia and New Zealand by the Australian Children's Television Foundation. The movie is based on an original concept by Tony Ayres, produced by Beth Frey and executive produced by Tony Ayres and Michael McMahon.

Filmed in suburban Melbourne, Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows will screen in selected Australian movie theatres and on ABC3 in early 2016.