Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Unit: Major Project Production
Synopsis: A lonely woman on the frontier has a chance encounter with an injured bush ranger. In vulnerability, they find an unlikely connection and kinship - and then the law comes knocking.
Credits:
Written and Directed by Ro Bonici
Produced by Laura Jane Turner
Cinematography by Monica-Jane Saade
Production Design by Dakota Hull
Editor Thomas Young
"The bushranger myth is thoroughly queered in this binary-busting story of tenderness found in the arms of a fugitive." - MQFF
"Well acted and shot, Ballad elicits a glowing sense of possibility: a ‘what if’ fantasy inside a dangerous and stifled reality." - Silvi Vann-Wall
WINNER - Best Short Film - LGBTQ+ Los Angeles Film Festival
Finalist for "My Queer Career " @ Queer Screens, Mardi Gras
Finalist for "Australian Shorts" @ MQFF
‘No gay bushrangers?’ SAE graduate Roe Bonnici’s short film unearths a hidden history
https://sae.edu.au/insights/ballad-sae-student-film-queer-film-festival/
Unit: Major Project Production
Synopsis: A lonely woman on the frontier has a chance encounter with an injured bush ranger. In vulnerability, they find an unlikely connection and kinship - and then the law comes knocking.
Credits:
Written and Directed by Ro Bonici
Produced by Laura Jane Turner
Cinematography by Monica-Jane Saade
Production Design by Dakota Hull
Editor Thomas Young
"The bushranger myth is thoroughly queered in this binary-busting story of tenderness found in the arms of a fugitive." - MQFF
"Well acted and shot, Ballad elicits a glowing sense of possibility: a ‘what if’ fantasy inside a dangerous and stifled reality." - Silvi Vann-Wall
WINNER - Best Short Film - LGBTQ+ Los Angeles Film Festival
Finalist for "My Queer Career " @ Queer Screens, Mardi Gras
Finalist for "Australian Shorts" @ MQFF
‘No gay bushrangers?’ SAE graduate Roe Bonnici’s short film unearths a hidden history
https://sae.edu.au/insights/ballad-sae-student-film-queer-film-festival/
