A very special independent film premiere will take place this Saturday, August 1, at Reading Cinemas as local filmmaker Jose Sunny celebrates the release of his award-winning short film “GEN Z”.

It’s the fifth film by the 45-year-old teacher from St Johns College Dubbo, a collaboration between New Zealand, Australia, and India, and produced under the banner of Thommy Films & Entertainment.

It is also the first of Jose’s films to premiere right here in Dubbo, and he’s very excited to be able to celebrate with friends, family and local residents at the red carpet event.

“This film only goes for 30 minutes, but I just want to give the audience an experience, an audiovisual experience,” he told Dubbo Photo News.

The film will premiere on Saturday night and return on Sunday evening, August 2, for a repeat performance at Reading Cinemas. Tickets are available from eventik.com.au for both sessions, which screen at 6.30pm.

Jose wrote, directed and edited the short film, which was shot on location over 14 days in New Zealand, in 2023.

With the tagline “one generation, one screen, one conversation” and featuring a mix of Malayalam and English languages, it tackles a subject that is very relevant to modern society and the “Generation Z” demographic cohort, otherwise known as “Gen Z” or “Zoomers”.

Jose hopes his short film – the screenplay for which won an award for “unproduced script in short” at the Rotterdam Independent Film Festival in October 2023, even before filming began – will open conversations between generations around the use of technology and spiralling into addiction.

“It's about the impact of technology on a Gen Z individual's life,” he told Dubbo Photo News.

“It's about a 15-year-old girl who's struggling, who's obsessed with technology, the challenges she faces, and how it affects her family, her relationships, and so forth,” he explained.

Jose said he was inspired to write and make the film from observing life around him.

“I know that technology has transformed our life in incredible ways, but at the same time, I feel that it's changing how we communicate and build relationships and understand ourselves,” he said.

Jose wrote the film before acclaimed dark Netflix drama “Adolescence” was made, and while very different, “GEN Z” explores similar themes of particular influences on teens.

“Gen Zs were born between 1997 and 2012, and these are the individuals who were born into technology. And so, I just really wanted to ask questions about the digital world, the human connections, and the choices we are making every day,” he added.

Winning the award at Rotterdam three years ago had the amateur filmmaker – who teaches science at St Johns College during the school year – feeling on top of the world.

“I wasn’t quite sure how [the film’s story] would communicate on paper because film is a visual language, and there are a lot of things which you can't put on paper. I really want to see a film [unfold before me] when I'm writing that screenplay.”

For GEN Z, Jose has been nominated for Best Director - Short Film at the 2026 Toronto International Nollywood Film Festival (TINFF), which will be announced in September. He previously won Best International Screenplay at this same festival in 2024, and has won a host of other awards for his work over the years.

Jose draws comparisons between his day job teaching science at St Johns and his extra-curricular passion for filmmaking.

“Science actually explores how the world works, and I feel that in filmmaking you're exploring how people think, behave, and how they interact,” he said.

Not only are Jose’s colleagues and students proud of his success, but his wife Smitha and daughters Rithika (19) and Rihaana (14) are also very proud and supportive of him pursuing his filmmaking interests and will be on hand to help him celebrate at the premiere.

He hopes the messages in the film will resonate with audiences and kickstart important conversations if they are not already happening.

“After watching this film, I'm sure that if parents can have that conversation with their kids, I think we'll have success,” he concluded.