Sunup Workshop introduces VINES, a heartfelt South Australian feature about love, identity and the messy, very human journey of choosing yourself.
Boutique creative studio Sunup Workshop has officially announced its debut feature film, VINES — a tender, visually rich romantic drama set between the Adelaide Hills and the city, exploring love, identity, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again.
Written and directed by Kahli Gaskin and produced by Isabelle Scott, VINES is currently in development and marks a major step in Sunup Workshop’s evolution from creative agency to film studio. The project follows the national success of the company’s award-winning short AMOK, which premiered at Flickerfest and screened across multiple Australian festivals.
At its centre is Eliza, a once-promising filmmaker who finds herself both creatively and emotionally adrift. When she and Ethan — her brother-in-law — follow a feeling neither of them expected to act on, they set off a chain of repercussions that force them both to confront the lives they’ve built, the identities they’ve outgrown, and the truth about what they really want.
Reflecting on her vision for the film, Writer-Director Kahli Gaskin says,
“VINES is a journey you take with two individuals as they begin to ask themselves what they truly want. So much of life is lived in the space between who we appear to be and who we really are. This story explores that quiet, messy transformation — the courage it takes to stop living for others and start living honestly.”
Although still in its early stages, VINES has already begun to attract strong interest from collaborators, screen partners and supporters. The project is being shaped by a committed team with deep South Australian ties, and its development has been grounded in authenticity, lived experience and a belief in the emotional power of intimate, character-driven storytelling.
Blending romance, emotional honesty and the inevitable chaos that comes with being human, VINES is a story shaped by the mistakes we make, the truths we avoid, and the unexpected ways life pushes us to grow. VINES unfolds against the sweeping hills of South Australia’s vineyard country and the gentle sprawl of Adelaide suburbia. It’s a world of golden light, tangled vines, quiet back roads and hot summer afternoons — a landscape that holds both beauty and tension, shaping the emotional lives of the people who move through it.
This is a world where people try their best and still get it wrong — where loyalty collides with longing, and where a single choice can unravel the parts of life we’ve worked hardest to hold together. Through this lens, VINES explores the ripple effect of decisions made in private: the unspoken disappointments, the small betrayals, and the messy, very human courage it takes to face yourself honestly.
While the story follows Eliza and Ethan at its core, it also unfolds through the women surrounding them — each navigating her own reckoning with identity, desire and consequence. Their journeys intertwine, revealing the pressures, expectations and emotional fault lines that shape modern family life.
As Sunup Workshop’s debut feature, VINES represents the studio’s commitment to creating character-driven films that feel grounded, relatable and distinctly South Australian. With development underway, the project marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for the company.
A major announcement revealing a key creative partner joining the film will follow soon.
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Kahli Gaskin, Writer & Director of VINES
“VINES is a journey you take with two individuals as they begin to ask themselves what they truly want. So much of life is lived in the space between who we appear to be and who we really are. This story explores that quiet, messy transformation — the courage it takes to stop living for others and start living honestly.”
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