Opening scene from The Dry (2020) Eric Bana
Still from 'The Dry (2020)
Stories & Ideas

Fri 04 Apr 2025

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Field Carr

Video Manager, ACMI

Discover how regional Victoria has set the scene for iconic screen stories.

Regional Victoria’s landscapes have long featured on both the big screen and the small – from Horsham and Mt Rothwell in The Dressmaker, to Clunes’ main street and the flat open landscapes around Anakie and the You Yangs in Mad Max. Round the Twist made the lighthouse at Aireys Inlet an iconic stop on journeys down the Great Ocean Road, and Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock etched this location in the memory of many a film lover and student of film. More recently, The Dry, starring Eric Bana, was filmed in the small southern Mallee town of Beulah.

These regional locations have played a pivotal role in bringing Australian film and TV productions to life, leaving a lasting influence on popular culture.

Learn more about some of these iconic productions with the videos below, along with other behind-the-scenes content linked to exhibits in ACMI's FREE centrepiece exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image.

Learn more about local film craft at ACMI, Fed Square

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