Writer/director Heidi Lee Douglas’ Tasmanian Gothic film Little Lamb will have its world premiere at the Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival this Saturday night in Hobart
The 22 minute drama, set in 1829 convict Van Diemen’s Land, follows the story of a young convict woman desperate for freedom rashly who chooses a new master. Alone on his isolated farm her hopes for a new life are undermined by the grim truths she discovers.
With a background in documentary storytelling, Little Lamb is Douglas’ first foray into drama filmmaking but the film drew on her own real life experiences.
“When I was making the film I realised it a cathartic, mythological exorcism of my own experience being sued by logging company Gunns Ltd. The main character Louisa is struggling with oppression just as I was, though her powerless amid the British penal system was obviously more extreme than my own, but then her reaction is also more colourful.”
Little Lamb was originally supported by Wide Angle Tasmania and Screen Australia’s Raw Nerve initiative. Controversially Abbott government cuts to the Arts have led to Screen Australia removing funding from Wide Angle Tasmania from 2016, and the future funding of the Raw Nerve Initiative by Screen Australia looking unlikely.
Little Lamb is having its NSW, Victorian and International Premiere in the coming month. For more information visit www.littlelambmovie.com/screenings or to book tickets go to http://strangerwithmyface.com/films-2014/australian-shorts/