Australian app uses video stories by residents to draw visitors to places off the beaten track
- The Yesterday Stories app focuses on Australian locations that tourists might not have thought of visiting
- It reveals their history and character through professionally produced mini-documentaries narrated by residents
Filmmaker Sandra Pires’ company has produced a smartphone app for visitors to Australia that showcases her work and that of a growing number of other contributors who think lesser-known, everyday, more personal histories need wider exposure.
“I’ve always produced documentaries about people who haven’t been able to get their story out, or the underdog – the stories that needed more attention,” says Pires, CEO of Yesterday Stories.
The app, also called Yesterday Stories (downloadable from the usual app stores), is no tourism promotion vehicle with drone-heavy footage of Australia’s beauty spots, bungee jumping and beachside barbecues, but a collection of professionally produced accounts, mostly two or three minutes long, that fill in the history and personality of places you may not have thought of visiting.
They are well-crafted mini-documentaries, often nostalgic, but never sugar-coated.
Those already in Australia need only tap the app for a map showing nearby filmed locations. Tap again to view a short film, and again to get directions to reach its location from wherever you are. While Australia remains inaccessible for those of us elsewhere, travel vicariously by tapping your way through the entire library, and you may find yourself planning a future itinerary.