A Word from Peter Roberts
Director of "COLD PATROL"

On the 20th of May, the Hoth-based short film Cold Patrol premiered at the Kaleide theatre in Melbourne. According to Steve Carroll, it took 4 years of "blood, sweat and snow" to bring the adventures of Lieutenant Cutter and Private Buzzby to the big screen.

From our first discussions about this project back in August of 2002, Steve and I decided that we wanted to create a fast-paced, punchy film that would run parallel to the first reel of The Empire Strikes Back. It had to have plenty of action and humour, with good characters that the audience would identify with. As with Desert Duel before it, I didn't want the story to get bogged down with the endless exposition of Jedi dogma which has become the basis for many other Star Wars amateur films. I wanted it to be fun.

After the struggle of making Desert Duel on location, we knew that we were in for some tough times. Some preliminary tests at Lake Mountain taught us that shooting in the snow was going to present some special difficulties, not the least of which was keeping the camera free of frost and our fingers warm enough to press the record button.

The main shoot in July of 2003 saw our small crew ascend the lofty snow-capped heights of Mt. Buller to film most of the outdoor scenes over two grueling days. Instead of celebrating the wrap, I had to contend with a not-too-impressed policeman who didn't like the look of our blasters. Studio shots in my garage were a little more comfortable, but with 11 costumed actors packed in for the briefing room scene, it was very cosy.

I would like to thank once again the small but dedicated crew who helped bring Cold Patrol to life. All of you donated your time and talent and you deserve a holiday- how about a trip to the snow?

Peter Roberts

Director, Cold Patrol