Australian director Robert Connolly says he's indebted to the likes of Cate Blanchett and Sam Worthington for not pricing themselves out of the local movie market.
Connolly has just finished directing the movie Paper Planes, which stars Worthington, and he has produced The Turning, based on the Tim Winton book of short stories.
The Turning comprises 17 different chapters made by 17 different directors.
Eight of the chapters will air on Sunday from 9.30pm on ABC1 and the remaining nine chapters will screen on the ABC's arts website (abc.net.au/arts) from 11pm.
Actors David Wenham and Mia Wasikowska make their directorial debut in The Turning which has a notable Australian ensemble cast.
Besides Blanchett, Rose Byrne also returned to Australia appear in the movie which includes Miranda Otto, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving, Susie Porter and Dan Wyllie.
Blanchett's asking price in Hollywood alone would most likely have soaked up a lot of The Turning's budget.
Golden Globe winning actor Byrne is in one chapter after calling Connolly and asking to appear in The Turning because she was a huge fan of Winton's book.
It's why Connolly is extremely grateful for the support he received from the entire cast and directors on the project which took 12 months to film because of the logistics of lining up the talent.
"I can only be grateful for the relationships I have with these really strong actors," Connolly told AAP.
"We are lucky to have actors of this calibre committed to the local industry.
"It's quite an amazing amount of support for the local industry and they have a big picture view of the industry, which has helped their careers."
The Turning has been individually lifted from the pages of the novel by each director who either wrote or called upon writers to pen their own script for that specific chapter.
The short film chapters vary in length from about six to 15 minutes, and while they are interlined and overlap, they are also self-contained.
The Turning had its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this month, and on the weekend it will screened at the White Night festival in Melbourne.
"You don't have to connect the chapters, but they are connected," Connolly said.
"I invited people (to direct) because I either loved their work or knew them personally as friends and I gave them a lot of freedom.
"They were allowed to interpret the chapters themselves, and I think that's worked well."
Connolly's children's movie Paper Planes has just wrapped in West Australia and is scheduled for a school holiday release later this year.
The movie stars Worthington and Wenham and is about a young boy, played by Ed Oxenbould (Puberty Blues), who heads to Japan for the paper plane throwing championships.
"Sam remains committed to being involved in Australian projects, which is fantastic," Connolly said.
"I've had support from all the actors, even Alex Williams who played Kirk Pengilly in INXS (telemovie) and was the lead in the Julian Assange telemovie, he came back to do a cameo for me (in Paper Planes)."
* The Turning screens on Sunday, February 23 at 9.30pm on ABC1
