Director Maria Tran is moving into post-production on her ultra-low-budget female-led action double feature, produced for just $50,000.
Inspired by Robert Rodriguez’s DIY guerrilla filmmaking style, Echo 8 Trilogy’s production takes a ‘necessity-breeds-creativity’ approach, from funding through to distribution, reliant upon crowdfunding and community support and engagement.
“In Australia, indie filmmakers need to explore alternative avenues for resources and funding and find ways to become self-sustainable.
“We can’t depend on government funding or support, as what gets funded is beyond our control. That’s why crowdfunding has become the way forward for us,” Tran tells IF.
Tran’s Echo 8, released in 2023, was self-financed, with a budget of $10,000, and self-distributed across platforms including Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Tubi and Reel Shorts. Off its back comes the next instalments in the trilogy: Echo 8 Beyond and Five By Five.
Created in collaboration with Fideo Films, Arts & Cultural Exchange, Tang Media, and Phoenix Eye Films, the double feature involved more than 200 cast and crew members and was shot in just 50 days at over 20 locations around Western Sydney.
“Seeing the success of the first movie, the team decided to prove it wasn’t a fluke by expanding the project into a trilogy, especially after the buzz generated by the first film.
“We launched a crowdfunding campaign with plenty of pre-planning, and within the first 24 hours, we hit our fundraising goal. By the end of the campaign, we had raised $50k for the double feature”, says Tran.
Written by Tran’s sister Elizabeth H. Vu, Five By Five is the prequel to Echo 8, set 30 years earlier about Agent 5’s experiences within the Zodiac crime ring.
Echo 8 Beyond is the sequel to Echo 8, about Anna, an ex-assassin who is on a new mission to protect her mother. By going into hiding, she comes face to face with new threats.
Both films are set to be released in December this year.
The cast includes George Basha (Hostile Forces), Ashley Avci (Housos), Damien Sato (Rhapsody of Love), Mike Leeder (Fearless), and up-and-comers Alexander W. Hunter, Ross Page, Anne Dao, Xiang Ma, Wilson Zou and Takashi Hara.
Alongside crowdfunding, the double feature’s cast and crew were sourced with a ‘join in’ mentality, coming together through a “mix of word of mouth and interactions with people who watched our first movie,” she says.
“Many of them reached out after seeing the film and engaging with the creators. Elizabeth (the writer) and I would create characters based on the people we met, including those who wanted to try acting for the first time”.
Seeing a spike in the amount of microbudget horror and action films at the American Film Market 2024, Tran is championing the unorthodox new wave of filmmaking, saying” “I see myself as a full-time hobbyist filmmaker. I make movies that allow ordinary, out-of-industry people to participate and contribute, breaking down barriers to entry in the filmmaking process.”
“At the end of the day, we’re not aiming for an Oscar-winning movie — we’re focused on creating something that our supporters love and that gets picked up for distribution so the world can see it”.