By Parker McKenzie
In 2009, independent filmmaker Tim Burns released the cult suburban film Boronia Boys, a piece of Australian history perfectly capturing the suburb in the late 2000s.
Filmed on a shoestring budget and running on passion, Mr Burns, who directed the film under the name Timothy Spanos, said he was “fairly young” when he first started writing his second feature film.
“My job was teaching those driving courses where when you lose your license, you have to go to court,” he said.
“Every Thursday, it was in a church in Boronia and because I lived there for a long time, I’m writing this series and meeting all these guys who are here because they were drink driving.”
The film follows two men, one played by Mr Burns, from Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs, who steal hard rubbish in an attempt to fund an overseas trip.
“The house is actually the house I grew up in, which I believe got pulled down last year,” Mr Burns said.
“I was just reflecting on a lot of my memories of Boronia and I thought to myself, okay no one has really done this sort of suburban love story before.”
Along with friends he made while studying acting in Box Hill and a feature film under his belt, Mr Burns set about finding funding for what he originally envisaged as a TV series.
“I showed it to Andrew Friedman, who was executive producer of comedy at ABC, and he absolutely loved it in about 2001 or 2002. He mentored me and said we really want to do this, but do you think this is actually a film?” Mr Burns said.
“I was hoping to see it as a series, to be honest. We worked on it and he became the producer, we got a team of actors together and we production was getting going he got very sick and passed away.”
With the crew assembled, which included Mr Friedman’s wife, the cast pulled together to capture the feature film in locations around Boronia.
The film was a success, running for six weeks at the local Metro cinemas, which Mr Burns said was unheard of at the time for an independent Australian film.
“There’s something there for everybody and it’s got universal films, that’s what we tried to do,” he said.
“This was just about everyday things. I used to go the op shops and listen to old people talk and that formed the basis of the conversations, like Maxine talking about curried sausages; this is what people actually talk about.”
Mr Burns said the film’s success — even spawning a sequel where the character tour Europe — comes down to the character’s “tenderness.”
“It’s about friendship and belonging, getting out of where you come from because you think the grass was greener on the other side. We all know it never is,” he said.
“When we went to Sweden and had the film premiere there for the backpackers one, the fan club over there had a special screening and Cameron and I got up on stage and all these people from Sweden were saying ‘oh we want to go to Boronia.”
The film helped created friendships too. Mr Burns and actor Cameron Nugent — who met each other during acting school —still collaborate, with their film The HoneySuckle Sisters premiering on Thursday 1 December at the Nova Cinema as a part of Monster Fest.
Mr Burns said the film has left him with a lot of great memories, including meeting then-Prime Minister Jula Gillard and seeing a DVD of the film at parliament house.
“I remember going to Boronia once and hearing kids singing the theme song,” he said.
“I absolutely adored the cast; they are some of my favourite people. I was lucky and fortunate to work with them and the fact they were interested in and believed in this project, that’s very dear to me.
“I’ve made about nine productions over the last 20 years and I think this is one I really liked the most because it’s just so warm and actually quite funny.”
Boronia Backpackers is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, with the sequel being released three years after the original film. Mr Burns has re-released the film as a short online series with a new cut and soundtrack, with the original set to receive the same treatment in the coming months.
To watch or find out more, visit the StarBaby Films Youtube channel or The Films of Timothy Spanos Facebook page.
