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ODDBALL

By Stuart MCDONALD

Children's - Completed 2015

With persistent fox attacks threatening to close down the main tourist attraction of a small town in southern Australia, an island of Fairy Penguins, an eccentric chicken farmer teams up with his granddaughter to save the penguins using a very odd method... his rambunctious, troublemaking sheep dog.

Festivals
& Awards

Miami Film Festival 2016

Miffecito

- Year of production
- 2015
- Genres
- Children's, Family
- Countries
- AUSTRALIA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- N/A
- Duration
- 93 mn
- Director(s)
- Stuart MCDONALD
- Cast
- Shane JACOBSON, Sarah SNOOK, Alan TUDYK, Coco Jack GILLIES
- ISAN
- 0000-0003-D855-0000-A-0000-0000-7
- EIDR
- 10.5240/66D6-59D5-22D3-7C8B-4A44-3
- Producer(s)
- Richard KEDDIE (WTFN/The Film Company), Sheila Hanahan TAYLOR (Practical Pictures), Steve KEARNEY (Kmunications)
- Synopsis
- Based on a true story
  
  Off the coast from the small town of Warrnambool lies Middle Island, a sanctuary once home to thousands of the world’s smallest penguins. But since foxes learned to cross the shallow channel to the island, penguin numbers have plunged. And if they fall below ten, park ranger Emily Marsh will be out of a job. This shocks her father, eccentric chicken farmer Swampy Marsh. His wife ran the sanctuary, but when she passed away, Emily stepped in, while Swampy retreated to his farm. Emily’s nine-year-old daughter Olivia is the glue that keeps the family together.
  And at the center of everything is Oddball, Swampy’s rambunctious Maremma sheepdog. After Oddball goes on an off-leash run that nearly destroys Main Street, tensions rise. If the sanctuary closes, Emily plans to take Olivia and move away with Bradley, an American tourism consultant. So now Swampy might lose his daughter and granddaughter as well.
  The solution comes when Swampy rescues an injured penguin from the island and discovers to his amazement that Oddball – who can’t bring himself to guard chickens – is an expert at guarding penguins. With two weeks until the final penguin count, Swampy and Olivia devise a crazy plan – train the rambunctious and unpredictable Oddball to protect the penguins and save the sanctuary, while somehow keeping the operation a secret from everyone.
  Will Emily discover the truth? What about the suspicious Dogcatcher? And who is the shadowy person trying to make sure the sanctuary closes?
  What follows is a rousing adventure as Oddball, Swampy and Olivia manage to save the penguin preserve, their family and the town itself.
  
  A lovable but unpredictable dog saving cute little wild penguins from extinction? This might sound like a fairy tale, and it is, though one based on a real-life event. The heart-warming program features excellent performances by up-and-coming
  Australian star Shane Jacobson (“Kenny”). Sarah Snook (“Steve Jobs”, “Predestination”) and Alan Tudyk (“Frozen”, “I, Robot”, “Death at a Funeral”) round up the entertaining tale, shot entirely on the beautiful Australian coast near Melbourne.

ODDBALL

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