Redding, who plays the lead role of Alexander Pearce, said he was pleased with the way the movie’s Canberra Premiere unfolded.

“There was plenty of interest,” Redding said of last Thursday week’s inaugural screening. “I gave a Q and A after the film and everybody stayed for it. They were obviously keen to hear more about the movie,” he said.

Van Diemen’s Land, described by author and film director Richard Flanagan as ‘compelling and poetic’, depicts the true story of eight convicts who in 1822 escaped from the world’s most remote prison in Van Diemen’s Land – known today as Tasmania. As supplies ran out and tensions began to escalate, the group started to contemplate the unthinkable… turning to cannibalism.

Redding, who is temporarily working as a labourer in Melbourne to help make ends meet, co-wrote and produced the film with friend and director, Jonathan Auf Der Heide.

Last week’s screening gave Redding the opportunity to sit back and watch the movie for the first time since the Edinburgh Film Festival in June. “It was interesting to actually stop, sit down and reflect,” he said. “The cinema had the perfect set up for this type of film. The screening was very intimate.”

Van Diemen’s will continue to be screened three times a day for an undetermined period of time. A Dendy spokesperson said the movie was likely to remain on show for the next couple of weeks at least.