Starring Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor and an ensemble cast featuring Noah Taylor, Loene Carmen, Luke Ford and Keisha Castle-Hughes, Red Dog is the story of a charismatic kelpie named Koko who roamed the West Australian outback in the 1970s, hitching rides, adopting people and uniting communities along the way.

Director Kriv Stenders’ previous work includes ‘Lucky Country’. The film was produced by Nelson Woss of ‘Ned Kelly’ and Julie Ryan from ‘Ten Canoes’. Red Dog was shot in South Australia and the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia. Visual effects were completed at Resin and Rising Sun Pictures. The script was adapted by Daniel Taplitz of ‘Chaos Theory’ from the novel ‘Red Dog’ by author Louis De Bernières, who wrote ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’.

The Showcomotion competition was introduced as part of a strategy to bring more European and world cinema into the UK for young people. Other films entered were an American poetry documentary ‘Louder than a Bomb’, adventure film ‘The Crocodiles Strike Back’, ‘Against All Odds’, another documentary about teenage mothers and a third documentary ‘Neukölln Unlimited’ about Lebanese break-dancers under threat of deportation.

‘Red Dog’ had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, won the Audience Award at the Vail Film Festival in Colorado and recently opened the Australian Film Festival in London. It was announced yesterday that ‘Red Dog’ will close the Melbourne International Film Festival on 6 August. Red Dog is due for release in Australia on August 11 through Roadshow Films. www.reddogmovie.comwww.showcomotion.org.uk