Streaming service Stan to show film of Port Arthur murderer Martin Bryant

The film is being made under the direction of Justin Kurzel whose directoral debut was in Snowtown - a film on the infamous murders around Adelaide in the 1990s.

Stan has plugged the film NITRAM as a look at the events which led up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history.

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It says it is in an attempt to understand why and how the atrocity occurred.

The film is being produced in Geelong.

Actor and musician Caleb Landry Jones will portray the character known as Bryant.

Judy Davis, Anthony LaPaglia, and Essie Davis are also featured in the cast.

A Tasmanian government spokesman said the filmmakers had spoken to Screen Tasmania to advise them of the project.

"The government, and Screen Tasmania, has no involvement with the film shooting in Victoria," they said.

"Producers were encouraged to treat the matter sensitively."

A former police officer involved in early investigations into the Port Arthur massacre, and who asked to remain anonymous, said promotion of the tragedy in this way fed conspiracy theories related to the event.

"It brings back the pain for so many, and at the end of the day, this film is about making money as a commercial venture," he said.

Police Association of Tasmania president Colin Riley was part of the tactical response team that responded to the Port Arthur massacre.

He said a commercial film about Bryant had the potential to severely impact the mental health of many Tasmanians, including current and past members of the Police Association of Tasmania.

This is not the first time filmmakers have sought to make a movie about Bryant.

Hybrid Films Australia in 2016 announced it would make a film with an American production company which explored conspiracy theories around the massacre which took the lives of 35 people.

The company at the time released a mock-up of a film poster which had the tagline: "The face of an angel, the mind of a child, the act of a monster".

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