Departure Lounge – Short Film Comedy

Story:

Young Fly-in Fly-out mining engineer MEL, befriends her Indian taxi driver, JONNY, en route to the airport.  The song on JONNY’s taxi radio helps to brighten her from her ‘love sickness’. The song is a Bollywood number, OYE BOY CHARLIE. JONNY sends her on her way to meet her love, CHARLIE, in the Departure Lounge. Once inside, MEL realises she needs to struggle for CHARLIE’s affections and is happy to see JONNY back at the airport again (with a new passenger) to help lift her spirits. Trying to get inside to the Departure Lounge, JONNY has to put his iPhone through the X-ray machine, which eats it up and throws his song onto the BLUETOOTH network of the entire airport. A few of the Indian passengers and airport staff feel the beat, proving to be so infectious that soon the entire airport is dancing with joy in a Bollywood dance off.  At the height of such joy, CHARLIE asks MEL to marry him.

Watch DEPARTURE LOUNGE online:

Background:

The film was shot over 7 nights, with some shoots consisting of almost 100 cast and crew including support from the Griffith Film School students.  James Cook University medical students made up the entire Indian cast and more, all filming together in the graveyard hours, after the last flights flew out from Townsville Airport.

It was an action-packed principal photography phase, directed by Paul Andersen, shot by Steve Arnold and produced by Bill Leimbach with Ross Thomas as EP.