Inspired by several true stories Lucky Miles is a film about difference and the distance separating us all.
This bittersweet story kick-starts when an Indonesian fishing boat unloads a group of Iraqi and Cambodian men on to a remote beach in West Australian. Assured a bus to Perth awaits them over the dunes, the get off and wander into a vast desert.
Most are soon rescued but three men (Arun, Youssif and Ramelan) are missed in the round-up. Bound together by a single water bottle, these unlikely travel companions begin an epic but confused journey across the harsh landscape looking for a way out. Without a proper map and pulling in opposite directions they stumble deeper and deeper into trouble. Not-so-hot on their trail is an easily distracted army reservist unit, better equipped to play football than mount a rescue and recovery mission.
Continuing in the tradition of Ten Canoes and Looks Both Ways, Lucky Miles was this year's Opening Night Film at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival. Earning five stars with its first review and described by Variety Magazine as possessing ‘a winning streak of wry humour’, Lucky Miles is the long awaited debut of writer/director Michael James Rowland. Featuring a refreshing cast, scored by renowned Indian percussionist and composer Trilok Gurtu (WOMAD) and shot by veteran cinematographer Geoff Burton (Sunday Too Far Away, The Year My Voice Broke, Sirens), Lucky Miles is a smart, funny, thoroughly modern frontier tale.
