Australian thriller One Less God has been picked up by Los Angeles based international sales agent Multivisionnaire and acquired for Australian domestic distribution by Umbrella Entertainment. The award-winning film is the debut feature by writer-director Lliam Worthington.
Inspired by the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 2008, One Less God follows the harrowing events from the perspectives of both hostages and terrorists over the course of the devastating three-day siege in Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel. The film’s dialogue was directly inspired by the leaked transcripts of the 2008 siege, which influenced subsequent multiple target militant attacks on cities including Paris.
“With 166 people killed, over 600 injured and thousands swept up in the events, it was India’s 9/11” said writer/director Lliam Worthington. “We spent years researching and writing, and once we became immersed in the events and the geo-politics, we knew we needed to get beyond the timeline of events that were filling the news cycles. We wanted to get to the heart of the tragedy, and also beyond it, to the people on both ends of the guns.”
Co-producer Nelson Lau said: “Conceived eight years ago and filmed and produced over three years, One Less God is a truly independent feature largely created by sweat equity and grass roots industry support. ”But more than that - it is a feature made by people of many different faiths: Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jews, Buddhists and those of no faith as well. I think together we have made a deeply humanist film that shrinks from nothing, which we believe is vital right now in this divisive political climate,” he continued.
The celebrated feature received the two top awards at the film’s world premiere in June at Dances With Films Festival at the Los Angeles Chinese Theatres making it the only feature in the twenty year history of the festival to receive both honours.
Slated for an Australia wide release in November, the film stars a diverse Australian cast bringing to life the hostages, international guests and staff, and the terrorists, including Joseph Mahler Taylor, Mihika Rao, Kabir Singh, SukhRaj Deepak, Kieran Kumar, Martelle Hammer, Nathan Kaye, Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis, Igor Kreyman, Joseph JU Taylor, Quentin Yung, Nicole Fantl, Jan Langford-Penny, Philip RK John, Kaliopi Eleni and Rhavin Banda, many of whom will make their silver screen debuts.