Writer, producer and director of Animal, Jessica Beange reflects on the location for her first short film, to be shot south of Canberra. Photo: Supplied.
It took Jessica Beange more than six months to curate ideas for a supernatural thriller – and one weekend to write it.
The Canberra writer, producer director – and public servant, knew she had a film in her. But it was only at the strangest of times, during COVID, that she began to see it the way she wanted her audience to see it.
“It felt like it was something I had been leading up to for a while,” she said. “My background is in broadcasting.”
It was during the lockdown and she was watching the 1966 classic Ingmar Bergman film, Persona.
“It’s about these two women who live on an island where Bergman lived – one of the characters doesn’t talk yet her face says so much,” Jessica said. “It is very intriguing, it really sucks you in … why doesn’t she talk?
“The characters go through such a traumatic time together, stuck in this house. It’s called Persona because they both lose it.”
Jessica said the rawness of the film inspired her. She started writing a film about a play in which a woman leaves her false world behind and encounters a mysterious stranger. It’s called Animal.
“But it didn’t work as a play, but then I realised it worked as cinema. I hadn’t thought it possible for me to make a film, but I talked to people who knew people … and everything started to fall into place.”
She started casting around for talent, both in front of and behind the camera. First to sign up was producer and cameraman Joachim “Jogi” Ellenrieder and sound man Tim Duck of Versed Productions.
But she described the casting process for the three required actors as “daunting”.
Cinematographer Joachim “Jogi” Ellenrieder focuses on actor Isabelle Faure outside the “perfect” hut on location for the new Canberra film, Animal.
“I didn’t know if we would find the right people or if they would want to do it,” she said. “But we had such a positive response.”
She has since signed up three of the region’s best: Isabelle Faure, Karen Vickery and Michael Sparks.
Animal is the story of Suzette (played by Isabelle Faure) whose life falls apart. She leaves her husband (Michael Sparks) and her apartment and goes bush. It’s there she discovers the Woman (Karen Vickery) who starts to appear and disappear, leaving Suzette wondering what’s real and what’s not.
Securing the cast, the story and the production crew made it all “very real” for Jessica.
“The actors are all locals and they work together perfectly,” she said.
The other key ingredient for the film was location. She had settled on a bush site near Canberra, with its rugged landscape.
“But by then I’d done an outline of the script and I had really imagined what the scene would look like, I saw mist, mountains and water. There was none of that at the original site, that’s when we went to this other place I was told about, near the Tinderry Ranges.
“It was exactly how I imagined it would be. We camped up there to see what it was like and it was perfect.
“It has its own little weather system – the weather can change in seconds. The people who live there have built the most incredible hut and they’re letting us use it to film.”
Jessica said she was keen to keep her cast and crew small. “We’ve got Yogi on single camera. He may have some lighting help or it will be me. Tim, who teaches at Canberra CIT is amazing – he can tell the difference between the sound of a can of Coke opening to one of Pepsi. He plans to have some of the CIT students working with us as interns too.”
Animal will start filming next month with release tipped for next year at independent film festivals.
“We also plan to have a special party screening of it in Canberra too,” Jessica said.
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