SOUTH AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE | 18 October
M-8
Dante Julian Niedzwiedz | 2025 | 12m | Australia | Unley, South Australian
Ruby is an introverted teenager with a strong passion for robotics and inventions. She is ambitious and dreams of winning a scholarship to the most prestigious robotics academy in the country to pursue her dream of creating robots that can make a change in the world. The story starts with the creation of M-8. Ruby makes a huge step in achieving her goal by bringing this robot to life just in time for the annual robotics competition. Initially overjoyed with her creation, she is quickly brought down to Earth by the brash judging panel, who interrogate the usefulness of M-8. She casts M-8 aside, but M-8’s optimistic persistence in connecting with Ruby helps her see value in persevering and being vulnerable.
Credits
Director & Writer
Dante Julian Niedzwiedz
Producer
Dante Julian Niedzwiedz
Alice Reardon
Cast
Arwen Diamond
Interview with director Dante Julian Niedzwiedz
1. What was one of the most challenging moments you faced while making M-8? Did this ‘setback’ change the direction of the final story?
The most challenging moment I can recall is getting to the edit and realising that we had not adequately covered the final 'school hall' scene where Ruby returns with an improved M-8. That shooting day proved to be quite ambitious, given the amount of content we had to cover and it was quite a full-on day. We had scheduled the shoot based on our original script that was funded, but additional drafts had added more to shoot at this location. The schedule didn’t evolve to reflect that, so we packed in a lot on this day and as a result there were a couple of important angles / shots that we missed, which meant we had to coordinate a re-shoot. Given there were a lot of moving pieces involved for each shoot day, I didn't love the idea of this - however it all worked out for the best, and ultimately it didn't change the overall direction of the story.
2. What was the biggest inspiration behind M-8?
We were drawn to the technical & stylistic challenge of creating a POV film and thought it could result in some unique & subjective storytelling. In terms of the story inspiration, at the time of writing the film I was working in a primary school and felt strongly about a story about an isolated young person persisting through obstacles and failures to keep working for their passion, as well as learning to be a better friend in the process.
3. What message do you want the audience to take away from M-8?
Given this film was made for a younger audience, we wanted to impart the message of perseverance in the face of adversity and learning from mistakes. Additionally, a message of empathy; how seeing the point-of-view of the other person in a situation can lead to greater outcomes for both parties.