The Lost Tiger

The Lost Tiger
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChantelle Murray
Written byPhilip Tarl Denson
Chantelle Murray
Anthony Mullins
Produced byNadine Bates
Kristen Souvlis
Ryan Greaves
Chantelle Murray
StarringThomas Weatherall
Rhys Darby
Celeste Barber
Jimi Bani
Nakkiah Lui
Music byAck Kinmonth
Production
companies
Maslow Entertainment
Like a Photon Creative
Distributed bySola Media (international sales)
Maslow Entertainment (Australia)
Release dates
Running time
82 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

The Lost Tiger is a 2024 Australian animated adventure film directed and co-written by Chantelle Murray. The film follows Teo, one of the last thylacines ("Tasmanian tigers"), who is taken by a family of kangaroos, and he embarks on an adventure to save his homeland from being destroyed.

The film premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival on 26 October 2024, and was released in Australia on 27 February 2025 by Maslow Entertainment.

Premise

Teo, believed to be the last thylacine, is taken in by a family of kangaroos. Teo carries with him a mysterious crystal necklace, the only clue left by those who abandoned him.[1][2][3]

Voice cast

Production

The Lost Tiger was the debut animated feature film[3] directed by filmmaker Chantelle Murray,[2][1] who grew up in Djarindjin Community in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Murray is of mixed descent, with a white father and Malaysian / Aboriginal primary school teacher mother[3] of Bardi descent.[2] The film was co-written by Murray, Philip Tarl Denson,[4] and Anthony Mullins.[5] It is the first Australian animated film to be written and directed by an Indigenous Australian woman,[6] and explores themes of identity and heritage.[7][2]

It was co-produced by Nadine Bates and Kristen Souvlis of Brisbane studio Like a Photon Creative,[8][9] along with Ryan Greaves and Chantelle Murray.[10]

The animation is created using a process in which only every second frame is animated, known as "stepped keys". Whereas computer-animated film usually show 24 frames of motion per second, but using this method, the viewer sees only 12 frames per second. This pose-to-pose movement gives the film a stop-motion feel, which gives it a "stop-motion feel".[7] It is the sixth film in Like a Photon Creative's The Tales from Sanctuary City franchise.[11]

The score was composed by Ack Kinmonth,[10][12] and the film was supported by Screen Queensland.[13]

The film is 82 minutes long.[14]

Release

The Lost Tiger premiered at the Brisbane International Film Festival on 26 October 2024.[1] It was also screened at the Perth Festival on 11 January 2025,[4] and at the ImagineNATIVE festival in Toronto, Canada, in June of that year.[15]

It was released in Australian cinemas on 27 February 2025 by Maslow Entertainment.[16][17]

Reception

Luke Buckmaster, writing in The Guardian, gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, noting that "the emotional moments in The Lost Tiger work out pretty well: in fact, lines such as 'this is your land, this is your country' register as genuinely profound".[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Lost Tiger". Brisbane International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 9 October 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Buckmaster, Luke (28 February 2025). "The Lost Tiger review – a big-hearted Australian kids' film with unexpected heft". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  3. ^ a b c Murray, Chantelle (3 March 2025). "The Lost Tiger's Chantelle Murray on being the first Indigenous Australian woman to direct an animated feature". ABC News (Interview). Interviewed by Rasker, Rachel. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  4. ^ a b "The Lost Tiger". Perth Festival. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  5. ^ "Lost Tiger, The". Screen Australia. 11 April 2026. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  6. ^ Downs, Sarah (9 January 2025). "Australian Animation 'The Lost Tiger' Debuts Trailer". Variety Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  7. ^ a b Chand, Ari (3 March 2025), The Lost Tiger: first animated film by an Indigenous woman explores heritage and identity through a thylacine, The Conversation, doi:10.64628/aa.vp53gp7rn
  8. ^ Dent, Nick (20 July 2025). "The screen queens building Brisbane's answer to Pixar". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  9. ^ "'THE POUT-POUT FISH' IS SET TO MAKE A SPLASH IN CINEMAS ACROSS AUSTRALIA FROM NEW YEAR'S DAY!". FilmInk. 29 September 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  10. ^ a b "The Lost Tiger". Whistler Film Festival. 17 November 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  11. ^ "Sola Media boards THE LOST TIGER, the first animated feature directed by an Indigenous woman". Sola Media. 15 February 2024. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  12. ^ Golding, Dan (15 March 2025). "New release soundtracks". ABC listen. Archived from the original on 3 June 2025. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  13. ^ Murray, Chantelle (9 July 2025). "Spotlight: Championing First Nations Voices with Chantelle Murray". Screen Queensland (Interview). Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  14. ^ "THE LOST TIGER". Australian Classification Board. 13 February 2025. Retrieved 24 April 2025.
  15. ^ "ImagineNATIVE". Screen Australia. 11 May 2026. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  16. ^ Vann-Wall, Silvi (8 January 2025). "The Lost Tiger: Hear Rhys Darby and Celeste Barber in first trailer for Aussie-mation". ScreenHub Australia. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
  17. ^ Swift, Brendan (7 January 2025). "'The Lost Tiger' (Trailer)". IF Magazine. Retrieved 5 June 2026.
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