A short film which recreates scenes of ancient China, yet shot entirely in Canberra, has won the Canberra Region Competition at the Canberra Short Film Festival held at the National Museum on Saturday night.
The Swordsman, written and directed by James Lane, is a s ensory and dramatic piece exploring the theme of revenge through the narrative of an ancient Chinese warrior, who is set upon a path of vengeance after his wife’s senseless murder. The story culminates in a swift but striking sword fight between the protagonist and his nemesis, silhouetted against the glow of the setting sun.
Filmed in spring last year and shot in various locations throughout Canberra – including Shepherd’s Lookout in Holt and Weston Park in Yarralumla – the task of creating the illusion of an ancient Chinese setting within the ‘bush capital’ posed a significant challenge for the young film makers, who share a passion for martial arts films.
Producer Alex Chapman (25yrs) said that despite the obstacles, the pair embraced the challenge of shooting an ancient Chinese tale in Canberra.
‘We originally wanted to shoot some footage at the Chinese Gardens in Sydney, but our budget didn’t allow for their filming fee, which was higher than expected. We decided that we would just need to be clever about how we shot it, and tried to use authentic-looking costumes and props,’ explains Chapman.
‘Canberra’s trademark gum trees needed to be carefully obscured or kept right out of shot,’ reveals Writer and Director James Lane (26yrs). ‘We tried to find settings that kept up the illusion, such as using a small bamboo thicket at Alex’s house as a backgrou nd for the scene of the wife’s cremation.’
A big coup that added to the authenticity was the mandarin narration by revered Chinese Director Zhang Zeming, recognised for his culturally significant Chinese film, Swan Song. The connection to Zeming was made when Electric Shadows brought him to Canberra last year for a Q&A screening of his famous film.
The Swordsman has also just been selected for the Miami Short Film Festival, and will screen on Wednesday November 28 at the Bill Cosford Cinema at the University of Miami, Florida.
‘Winning an award at the Canberra Short Film Festival is fantastic and very encouraging, so hopefully the film will go on to make an impact in Miami,’ says Lane.
About the actors: The three characters are played by Minh Trieu as the Swordsman, Zhang Luomeng as his wife, and James Lane as the nemesis.
About the crew: Writer and Director is James Lane, who is an experienced television editor. Lane studied Media Production at the University of Canberra and Film Studies at the ANU, graduating with Honours in 2003. He collaborated with fellow editor Alex Chapman, who is Producer of the film and also a keen director of short films and music videos. The key crew is comprised of a handful of professionals who met working at Prime TV in Canberra, including Simon Cadman as Director of Photography and Scott Wombey from Ronin Films as Cameraman. Unit publicist is Vasinee Jordan, who now works as Network Publicist for Movie Network Channels.
[release from Vasinee Jordan]