"Holy f***, documentaries are sick!"

Long before directing his own documentary that premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival, Adelaide-born Anthony Frith was obsessed with all films, making film sketches with his friends in a park near his Modbury home. But he didn’t get into documentaries until age 16 when he watched Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. Suddenly, he realised documentaries could be more than educational television. They could be… human.

“That was the moment where I thought, ‘Holy f*@k, documentaries are sick!”

That one movie cracked something open in his brain. Frith attended film school and eventually earned his very first investment: a small grant of just $6,000 to make a short comedy film.

“Up to that point, you pay for everything yourself. So, for someone to back you because they see something in you … it’s just amazing.”

Gradually, things began to snowball, bigger projects, bigger opportunities, including his first six-figure investment from the ABC and a trip to Peru to learn from his filmmaking idol, Werner Herzog.

“I was definitely nervous, I mean, they’ve given you all this money and these opportunities – you better be good! But yeah, at that point I thought, ‘Right, I’ve made it!’”   

Then nothing. . .

. . .for eight years.

No breakthrough. No big career explosion. Just rejection after rejection after rejection.

 “I was in my 30s by then, my son was on the way, and I thought … maybe I should become a real person,” Frith says.

So he did the ‘responsible thing’ and moved into corporate video work. The projects became steadier. The dream became quieter. 

“Before you know it, the creative things that matter most to you start slipping away because you just don’t have time for it anymore.”

Then came a singular bold move that changed everything.

“I’ve got this theory that success comes from just… asking the question.”

So he emailed The Asylum, the cult Hollywood studio behind Sharknado and dozens of gloriously chaotic, low-budget films, and asked if he could direct one of their movies.

They said yes.

And then he doubled down and said, “Cool, and I also want to make a documentary about the making of the movie.”

Somehow, again, they said yes.

Which is how Frith suddenly found himself making two films, working alongside acclaimed filmmaker David Farrier and learning to be a new dad, all at once.

“There were definitely moments where I thought, ‘All these people have given me all this money and all this trust, and I have NO idea what I’m doing.’ ”

He pauses.

“But I actually think imposter syndrome is healthy. You have to work out what exactly scares you, and then you push yourself to get better.”

While filming the Asylum’s The Land That Time Forgot, Frith's dreams came full circle when he decided to shoot scenes in the exact same Modbury park where he and his friends used to sit around and dream about making films as teenagers.

“I didn’t put it all together ‘til later, but that felt really special,” he says. “We used to sit there talking about the movies we’d make one day. And now we’re here, actually doing it!”

Mockbuster premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2025.

Frith refused to watch the finished film before the premiere. In hindsight, he regretted that decision and leaned on AFF CEO and Creative Director, Mat Kesting for support.

“I was having a proper panic attack before the premier,” he laughs. “So, Mat and I had a shot of tequila together, which was so key. It calmed my nerves a bit.”

Then the lights dropped. The film began.

Frith reflects, “Oh, I was a wreck. But after the first few minutes, the audience's laughter became a bit more consistent. I could hear the joy that people were getting out of my film; it was incredible.”

He pauses for a second.

“If I’d given up earlier, maybe I’d be in a better financial position. But I wouldn’t have these two movies that I love. And AFF has been a key part of the vast array of people who have made this happen.” 

Anthony’s journey from a teenager making film sketches in a Modbury park, to premiering a feature documentary at the Adelaide Film Festival is exactly why AFF exists.

Behind every film is a moment where someone backed an artist before success was guaranteed.

AFF doesn't just screen films. We back the artists making these films before the world knows their name, especially South Australian artists (and not just with a shot of tequila and a pep talk).

That’s where you come in.

Support from donors, partners, and audiences helped keep Anthony going through years of uncertainty, rejection, and self-doubt. That same support allows AFF to continue contributing to the future of South Australian filmmaking and highlighting Australian voices on a world stage.

Mockbuster has gone on to screenings and accolades in US and Canadian film festivals and will be screened at the Sydney Film Festival in July of this year.  But Adelaide will always be the favourite.

As Anthony puts it:

“Adelaide is my home. Having a film festival in Adelaide is so special. Watching films together in a packed cinema feels almost holy now. That rarely happens these days, but it happens at the Adelaide Film Festival.”

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