The Sapphires (film)

The Sapphires is a 2012 Australian musical comedy-drama film based on the 2004 stage play The Sapphires by Tony Briggs, which is loosely based on a real-life 1960s girl group that included Briggs' mother and aunt. The film is directed by Wayne Blair and written by Keith Thompson and Briggs. The Sapphires is about four Yorta Yorta (Aboriginal Australian) women: Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy), Kay (Shari Sebbens), and Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell); who are discovered by a talent scout (Chris O'Dowd), form a music group named The Sapphires, and travel to Vietnam in 1968 to sing for troops during the war. Production began in 2010, with the casting of the four members of The Sapphires.