If you were to find yourself running out of fuel while flying above the arid Nullarbor Plain in southwestern Australia, don’t panic. You might have the opportunity to meet Kate, Greg, and their dog Holly.
The pair are the sole occupants of Forrest, a former railway town that’s home to an emergency airport, which serves as an essential stop for planes needing to fill up mid-journey. Surrounded by miles of desert, Kate and Greg manage the remote property and see few visitors, although they’re always prepared for a traveler to spend the night.
Director and producer Yannick Jamey dropped in on the duo for “The Big Wait,” a poetic and dryly humorous documentary about life on the Australian plain.
Set to “Heaven and Paradise” by Don Julian and The Meadowlarks, the short film captures Kate and Greg’s routine. They change sheets and dust the mantles of the six cottages on site, cut the lawns, and spray herbicides on the runway to prevent weeds from springing through the blacktop and cracking the pavement.
“Even though today we’ve had no visitors from outside,” Greg says early in the film, “we are all the time trying to make sure that all the beds are available, everything is shiny and nice.” He continues:
And that we, when guests arrive, can put all the behind-the-scenes stuff away from us, and when you finally get there, you can just put on your beautiful smile to the guests and say, ‘Where were you? We were waiting for you!’
Jamey punctuates vast, aerial shots with tight, close-ups to juxtapose the immense geographic isolation with intimate storytelling. Surreal and at times absurd, “The Big Wait” glimpses an unassuming paradise fit for two but always ready for the next arrival.
“The Big Wait” just made the festival circuit, and Jamey is working on several short and feature-length films at the moment. Follow his latest projects on Vimeo.
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