The feature length film was filmed locally in Vila do Bispo and surrounding areas of the West Coast of the Algarve, over the last six years.

Producing “OPERATION EARTH”

Oscar Turner told me how he wanted to produce a film inspired by how he lives “off-grid” and in a “non-wasteful” way, which he successfully did with “OPERATION EARTH”. The film was actually remarkably produced in his caravan and “devoid of funding, big crews, and all the infrastructure usually associated with film production”. He told me that “the way film actually works is unfortunately, wasteful, if you think about the huge amounts of energy used and the way in which sets are thrown away after. I have decided to go about filming and producing in a different way, as that was a side of the industry that I did not like.” Despite being nervous of sharing the film, it has had great feedback and it will be entered into Film Festivals.

The premise of “OPERATION EARTH”

“T45 aka Simon, played by Oscar Turner and several other agents are sent to Zoobus13 (Earth) to investigate the strong acrid smell and irritating noise emitting from it. T45 finds the problem and a way to fix it. However, despite his power to achieve amazing things, like neutralising the resident mutated apes, he fails miserably on a personal level, thanks to his long-standing foe Nasty Nigel, played by lead actor, Tiago Inacio, who is a local living in Lagos.”

“OPERATION EARTH” is unique and “focuses on “the characters involved in trying to destroy the human race and they all have their own complications.”

Oscar Turner explained that “the subject matter of “OPERATION EARTH”, being the idea of our universe having its own immune system and how it would react to a rogue cell upsetting the balance of galactic life by polluting itself, was, without question, deep.” “Until, the craziness of the pandemic came along, and I felt inspired, it all made perfect sense to finish the film I originally started because as the chaos ensued, it was exactly the scenario I imagined for my story that was no longer fiction.” Most uniquely, he told me that “all the cast of the film are picked accidentally on meeting characters who did not need to act as they fitted their roles perfectly.”

About Oscar Turner

Oscar Turner was born in England and lived in Australia for 15 years and starting in the film industry in special effects. “I was a handy man and a friend of mine was a set film builder and asked me to help at a Kellogg’s commercial. I stayed for the shooting of it and went on to work on the car special effects of the film “Mad Max” which was mechanical special effects at the time. I then went on to work on producing and directing music videos, I love creating something out of nothing and working with people.”

Oscar Turner moved to Portugal 16 years ago and started a successful, yet small, production company until the 2008 financial crisis. “With the advent of digital video, I realised the potential to get back to making film affordably so I created short films for YouTube and got into scriptwriting.”

“Since I came here, I have found Portugal and its people to be a deeply inspiring experience, not just the landscape and light but the people it attracts, once I arrived here, I just had this really strong feeling that this was it.” Oscar Turner plans to continue making films and is currently working on another feature, 'Tent’ which is about a man who lives in London and inherits a campsite in Portugal, where chaos unfolds.

I know it would be mean the world to Oscar, if you watched “OPERATION EARTH”, if you are interested it is available on www.operationearth.eu.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes