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Home • Made in WA • From Here to the World: Film and TV made in WA • SAS: The Search for Warriors

SAS: The Search for Warriors

To join the ranks of Australia's elite SAS regiment you've got to make it through one of the toughest training courses in the world.

Documentary Documentary Series
Length
2 x 52 mins
Release Year
2010
Genre
Production companies

Prospero Productions

Photo credit Alex Dewhirst

Synopsis

For the first time in 25 years, a film crew has been given access to the highly secretive selection course for the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). Using the toughest military selection course in the world they are looking for the right type of solider. This is a search for warriors. 130 candidates from the cream of the military attempt the brutal 21-day trial. Most will never finish. First the candidates are subjected to constant and crushing physical exercise and torturous sleep deprivation. Their bodies are broken down – next it is their minds. The first stage is brutal but what the remaining candidates face will be a whole lot worse.

Photo credit Alex Dewhirst

Filmed and Post Produced in Western Australia

on the Traditional Country of the Yamatji Badimia, Yamatji Nanda & Noongar Whadjuk peoples

Watch the trailer

Production Information

Director

Russell Vines

Field Director

Eliot Buchan

Producers

Ed Punchard

Julia Redwood

Assistant Producer and Post Production Supervisor

Alex Dewhirst

Head of Production

Kirstin Dryburgh

Narrator

Bill Mc Cluskey

Production Manager

Claire Burton

Production Accountant

Gail Richards

Production Secretary

Lesley Hinde

Camera

Nathan Hayter

Gavin Johns

Sound Recordists

Jason North

Nathan Codner

Composer

Ash Gibson Greig

Sound Post Production

Ric Curtin

Editors

Teresa Ashton-Graham

Peter Pritchard

Edit Assistant

Will Faulkner

Online Editor

David Langlands

A tough crew

“The crew’s favourite phase of the course was ‘Happy Wanderer’.”

“We slept in tents in the middle of winter with no showers. We lugged heavy camera equipment up 1000 metre high mountains every day but despite this we were continually inspired by the stunning landscape and the incredible efforts of the candidates.”

– Russell Vines, Director

Find crew members on the Screenwest Crew Directory
Photo credit Alex Dewhirst
The documentary crew capture one of the dawn PT sessions
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Acknowledgement of Country

NGALA KAADITJ WHADJUK NOONGAR MOORT KEYEN KAADAK NIDJA BOODJA

 

We acknowledge Whadjuk Noongar people as the original custodians of the land on which the Screenwest office is located.

 

Screenwest acknowledges and pays respect to all Traditional Owners of Country across the State of Western Australia and their Elders, past, present and emerging. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, spiritual beliefs and relationship to land and waters and acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the people living today. We extend this respect to all Indigenous language groups.