Opal Fever is a portrait of life in Australia’s remote opal mining towns - isolated outback communities built on the hope that something precious lies beneath a barren surface - where people come in search of opal and sometimes never leave.

Director’s Statement
In the centre of Australia, remote towns Kupa Piti (Coober Pedy) and Andamooka mine some of the world’s most coveted opals - stones so prized that Queen Victoria chose Andamooka opal for her crown. Here, people claw opals from the dirt by hand, independent miners laying their own claim to the land. It's worth noting what opal actually is: unlike copper, gold or diamonds, it has no industrial application. No medical use. No scientific function. Opal exists purely as objects of beauty - and yet for over a century, it has lured people into one of the harshest environments on Earth.

In Kupa Piti and Andamooka, beauty becomes its own logic. But it’s not entirely rational to live here. It’s 50°C (122°F) in summer. There are no hospitals, no easy ways in or out. Most residents live underground in dugouts carved from rock, and most mining happens at night to avoid the heat. It’s a six-hour drive to the next town. And still, some stay forever.

Locals call it opal fever - described as having opals in your eyes. It feels as real as any addiction. This obsession initially drew me to these towns, but what intrigued me just as much were those without a direct connection to opal. Lexi, ten years old, taking acting classes online and dreaming of Hollywood. Rhi, a teenager whose family has lived in Kupa Piti for generations, with no desire to ever leave.

I’m interested in how, as humans, we all seemingly share an obsession with beauty - whether that’s in rocks under the surface of the ground or in makeup tutorials. Like magpies, we are drawn to what glimmers - constantly digging, carving into the earth and into ourselves. Here, beauty has its own logic, even when it appears to have none at all.

Opal Fever was created in close collaboration with cinematographer Max Walter. It would not have been possible without producer Alexandra Galloway and focus puller Lachlan Wright. Filmed on Kokatha and Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara land.