Little Lamb - Press Kit

A 22 minute drama film produced by Dark Lake Productions

with the assistance of Screen Australia and Wide Angle Tasmania.























ONE LINE SYNOPSIS

A young convict woman desperate for freedom rashly chooses a new master, but alone on his
isolated farm her hopes for a new life are undermined by the grim truths she discovers.

CONTACTS

Writer/Director Heidi Lee Douglas
heidi.douglas@darklakeproductions.com.au
Ph + 61 401 092 570
c/o Dark Lake Productions
37 Highclere Ave, Banksia
2216 NSW AUSTRALIA
www.littlelambmovie.com
www.darklakeproductions.com.au

Instagram: @darklakeproductions @heidileedouglas
#littlelambmovie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/heidileedouglasfilmmaker
www.facebook.com/littlelambmovie
Twitter: @darklaketweets @heidileedouglas

 Little Lamb - Press Kit

SHORT SYNOPSIS

1829. Louisa is a convict trapped in the living hell of a British prison in faraway Van Diemen's Land.
She ignores warnings from her prison mate and places her hopes for freedom in becoming the
servant of the mysterious Mr Black. On his remote farm, Louisa befriends an orphaned lamb as she
adjusts to her new position. Now at the mercy of her new master, she must obey his wishes
despite her reservations or face the grim truths hidden in the darkness.

SPECIFICATIONS
Style: Drama
Genre: Historical, Thriller, Horror
Running Time: 22 mins 22 seconds
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Language: English
Release Sound: Stereo
Copyright: Dark Lake Productions
Completed: August 2014
Country of Origin: Australia

Shooting Format: Panasonic AGAF102EN, 1080p 25fps, Hard drive

Edited on: Final Cut Pro 7

Sound Format: Stereo

Finishing Format: Uncompressed digital file, DCP & DVD

CREATIVE TEAM
Written and Directed by HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Produced by HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS and ROGER SCHOLES
Starring GEORGIA LUCY as Louisa
JAMES GRIM as Mr Black
JUDE KURING as Agnes
Executive Producer ABI BINNING
Script Editors KAREL SEGERS, ROGER SCHOLES and NEIL FOLEY
Cinematographer LEUKE MARRIOTT
 Little Lamb - Press Kit


Editor HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Composer BENJAMIN WALTER DOUGLAS
Sound Recordist TOBI ARMBRUSTER
Art Directors SALLY THOMPSON and GUSHI SODA

FULL SYNOPSIS

1829 Van Diemen’s Land. At the foot of a windswept mountain lies a women’s prison where
Louisa suffers inside her cell, longing for escape. Wizened prisoner Agnes warns Louisa that
greater dangers lurk outside the prison walls. In the grim light of day the convict women line up
and Mr Black arrives to choose a new servant. The handsome and powerful Mr Black captivates
Louisa, but Agnes cautions that something is not quite right. Mr Black has come to the prison
every few months to get a new servant girl and the last one he took was yellow haired Mary.
Louisa ignores Agnes and willfully thrusts herself in front of Mr Black. Intrigued by Louisa, he takes
her from the prison into the vast, untamed wilderness.

Mr Black rides on horseback and Louisa stumbles through the forest behind him, her hands tied.
When she trips and falls into the mud Mr Black stops to cut her binds and she tries to run away.
Mr Black grabs her, threatening that she won’t survive out here alone amongst the cold and the
wild men. At Mr Black’s remote farm, Louisa discovers an orphaned lamb and adopts it as her
friend.

But worrying signs alert Louisa to her own vulnerability. She glimpses a shadowy figure watching
her as she baths by the fire at night. Whilst she sleeps Mr Black spies on her until the lamb alerts
Louisa of his presence. In the morning Louisa is working in the kitchen when Mr Black stands
imposingly behind her, removing his belt. Louisa reaches for the rolling pin to defend herself.
Frustrated, Mr Black moves away ordering her to kill the lamb for his supper while he goes
hunting.

Louisa tries to kill the lamb but can’t. She notices blood on the lamb and traces the source to
blood leaking from the barn wall. In the failing light she takes a lantern and the lamb to
investigate. Inside the barn Louisa finds long blonde hair hanging by clots of blood from a
butcher’s hook, and a concealed door at the back of the barn trailed with blood.

Rummaging through Mr Black’s keys, Louisa notices a tiny key wired onto a larger key. The tiny key
unlocks the door, revealing a hidden chamber. Inside the chamber boxes are piled high, splattered
with blood. Louisa opens a chest and discovers the remains of the blond haired woman.

Mr Black returns from his hunt and grows angry when he realises Louisa is inside his barn. While
he readies himself to kill her, Louisa hides behind the trunks in the chamber and uses her lantern
and lamb to lure Mr Black. She tricks him and escapes out the door. Louisa and Mr Black scuffle on
either side of the chamber door, but using her might and her wits Louisa manages to lock Mr Black
inside the chamber. She sets the barn on fire.
 Little Lamb - Press Kit

Running outside, Louisa tries to save the lamb from the fire by chopping a small hole in the barn
wall. As Louisa pulls the lamb free Mr Black reaches through the hole and grabs her leg. Louisa
retrieves the axe as they fight and cleaves off Mr Black’s hand. Louisa and the lamb watch the barn
burn as Mr Black comes to his end. Louisa takes the axe and the lamb and disappears into the
night.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Heidi Lee Douglas, Writer/Director/Co-

Producer/Editor

Award winning Director Heidi Lee

Douglas’ visual aesthetic is bold and
striking, and her rich life experience and
twenty years background in documentary
filmmaking grants her deep insight into
exploring the personal amid universal
themes. She is passionate about elevated
genre that explores social issues in a darkly
fantastical way.

LITTLE LAMB was Heidi’s first drama short, premiering at Fantastic Fest. It went on to receive
numerous nominations and awards including Best Film, Best Production Design, Best Script
and Best Thriller. LITTLE LAMB was selected for the anthology feature film 7 FOR ETHERIA,
released in the USA, 2017 and was distributed for broadcast by Shorts HD.

Heidi’s eco-horror short DEVIL WOMAN had its World Premiere at Fantasia International Film
Festival 2018 and was officially selected for Fright Fest, Morbido and Bucheon International
Fantastic Film Festival 2019.

Heidi is attached to direct the whip-smart female led feature BOUTIQUE VIXENS, a segment of
Unicorn films “Women in Horror” anthology feature, and Vizpoet’s domestic violence revenge
possession feature THE OPPRESSION.

Roger Scholes, Co-Producer & Mentor Producer

Roger has been an independent film and television maker

for 40 years. Of his 20 released films many have received
critical acclaim. His first feature film The Tale of Ruby Rose
was invited into main competition at the Venice Film
Festival in 1987 and won 4 critics prizes including Best
Actress and Best Director. The documentary Home of the
Brave won First Prize at the 1993 International ITVA
American Film Awards, First Prize at the 1992 Mobie
Award; the documentary The Valley won Best Film –
Media at the 1992 Atom Awards and a 1992 United
 Little Lamb - Press Kit
Nation Media Peace Award; the cinema feature The Coolbaroo Cub won the 1996 Human
Rights Award
for Media and the Jury Prize at the 1993 Columbus International Film Festival; the 3 hour
tele-series The

Human Journey won the 2000 Eureka Prize for Science Media and Best Film - Education
at the 2000 Atom Awards. The 3 hour tele-series Stories from the Stone Age gained a
record viewership for ABC

TV, S4c and Channel4. His documentary series Last Port of Call and Future Shack gained
the highest documentary rating for the ABC in 2005 with 1.3
million viewers and the recent series The Passionate Apprentices gained the highest
‘Inside Australia’ slot rating for SBS TV. Roger is now working on a number of films and
television series.


DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

For ten years I lived near the original women’s prison in Tasmania, established during British
occupation in 1829. The 13,000 convict women that were transported to Tasmania were forced
into life in exile because of petty crimes, yet helped found the new nation of Australia. Now all
that remains of the prison are the sandstone walls and empty courtyards, a silent reminder of the
suffering the convict women endured. History has ignored these women, but their stories
whispered to me, their ghosts asking to have their voices heard.

Little Lamb won Best Script at the Stranger With my Face Film Festival Script Challenge in 2012.
Horror filmmaker and competition judge Donna McRae urged me to make the film and acclaimed
Director Roger Scholes offered to mentor me through the production. I secured a small grant from
Screen Australia and Wide Angle Tasmania through the Raw Nerve Initiative. With a cash budget
of only $4000, Little Lamb was a highly ambitious project with complex scenes including a burning
barn and use of live animals, and was realised by the generous and enthusiastic creative
community in Tasmania including a hundred volunteers.

My background is in documentary filmmaking and I have witnessed many real life horrors,
including war torn East Timor, the land rights struggles of Aboriginal Australians, and being
personally targeted by logging giant Gunns Ltd in a five-year court battle for the right to free
speech. Little Lamb draws on these experiences of struggling with oppression and channels these
emotions into the story of a convict woman who wants to regain her self-determination. I also
drew on the Bluebeard story as written by Clarissa Pinkola Estes about overcoming of predatory
forces. Many women who worked on the film shared with me their own “Bluebeard” stories – real
life events that parallel this dark fairytale, reinforcing to me the importance of sharing these old
stories in new ways with modern audiences.

DIRECTOR’S Q and A

Your background is in documentary filmmaking so how did you cross over to make you first
drama film, Little Lamb?

 Little Lamb - Press Kit
I picked up a video camera when I was 17 and it ignited my passion for documentary storytelling.
Film gave me a way to combine my love of storytelling with politics and history whilst looking at
contemporary issues.

As a child I spent a lot of time travelling with my family and I would gaze out the car window,
making up stories set in the landscapes we were passing, the tone of the story determined by
whatever music my parents were listening to. It’s a habit that has stuck with me ever since, and is
basically how I conceived the story for Little Lamb.

With documentaries I have been able to make films alone or with a very small team on small
budgets. Because Little Lamb was conceived for a script competition, I allowed my imagination to
run wild and didn’t limit myself with thoughts about a budget or how I would achieve aspects like
the burning barn, so when it came to the production it was a completely different type of
filmmaking from working alone on a documentary. For Little Lamb we had 35 crew, 30 cast and 30
sponsors. I relished working with the big team and discovered I was good at leading them.

Where did your inspiration for the Little Lamb story come from?

The story was partly inspired by Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ retelling of the
Bluebeard fairytale that is about predatory men. It was the first story I recognise in my own life as
having been “story medicine”, something I am quite interested in as a storyteller because I believe
we can help shape humanity through the stories we share. Bluebeard is about learning to trust our
intuition. I combined this archetypal story with the real life stories of convict women who had
been completely disempowered and abused by the colonial system. I wanted to retell their story
but empower the female protagonist of my film. When I was shooting and editing the film I
realised the film is also about my own journey of re-empowerment.

What is your connection to convict women?

I grew up in Newcastle Australia, which was a convict town formerly known as Kingstown, but it
had its name changed to Newcastle after the penal era to remove the bloody stain of its’ past.

But it wasn’t until I moved to Hobart that I discovered the stories of the female convicts whom
history has largely ignored. I lived near the remains of the female prison and would walk past it
daily and meditate there. It’s a very sad place, and I felt the ghosts of these
women asking me to have their stories told. The character Louisa is named after my own ancestor
from that period who died in childbirth, which sent three of her children into the
Randwick Asylum for Destitute Children. They had a hard life, and I wanted to honour their stories
too as they are part of what makes me who I am today.

Little Lamb had a small budget of only $4000 cash. How did you make the film on that tiny
budget?

We had a ground swell of support from the creative community in Tasmania to help make Little
Lamb, and friends and family from the mainland came down to help. Everybody worked on the
film voluntarily and I think that was very enabling because there was no hierarchy of worth based
on financial return - everybody’s time was donated and valuable. The $4000 cash and the in kind
support Wide Angle Tasmania and Screen Australia gave us was key to unlocking this community
spirit. The Resource Collective, which is a recycling centre for second hand goods salvaged off the
 Little Lamb - Press Kit
tip face, lent us a huge amount of materials. The real life farm location was generously donated to
us by the landowners who really got behind the project, sending down cakes to the set to boost
moral on the cold winter shoot days.

What are your plans for developing Little Lamb into a feature film?

I have written a feature film based on the origins of the short film, Unnatural Conduct. The feature
is set in an 18th century women's convict prison in Van Diemen's Land (now called Tasmania). It is
based on the true story of an underground anarchistic, lesbian, theatrical, female smuggling ring
called the Flash Mob who ruled the prison.

ABOUT THE ACTORS

Georgia Lucy as Louisa
Georgia Lucy is a performer, musician and artist who was the lead singer and drummer in the all-
girl punk band Dogtower, a subversive Burlesque performer for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, and
a Bhutto performer for a stage production about convict women. Originally from Newcastle, New
South Wales, Georgia was untrained and untamed when she auditioned for the lead role of Louisa
in Little Lamb, and her inner wildness and willingness to take risks outshone many more trained
actors. On set Georgia gave every scene her all, leaving the production covered with bruises from
literally throwing herself into her role. She composed the song
Louisa’s Lament as a warm up which she performed on set and is now
key to the opening scene to the film.


James Grim as Mr Black
James Grim is a designer, teacher and rock god with a propensity for
the dark and extreme. As lead singer in the “sex-voodoo-delta-blues-
a-billy” band the Brothers Grim and the Blue Murders he toured
Australia to packed out shows. In previous incarnations James has
been an actor and filmmaker, so he brought with him an inherent
understanding of how to perform on screen for Little Lamb. James
developed the character of Mr Black
to create a complex and tormented
soul who has been named by some fans as their all time favourite
villain.


Jude Kuring as Agnes

Jude Kuring is a legend of Australia’s stage and screen. She is
infamous for her ballsy portrayal of tough prison mate Noeline
Bourke in the popular 70‘s soap opera Prisoner. She was also a
seminal member of the Australian theatre icon the Pram Factory,
and was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role by the
Australian Film Institute for the feature film Maybe This Time. Jude now lives in Tasmania and
came out of retirement to play the wizened convict woman Agnes for Little Lamb, acting as
mentor and provocateur for the younger female cast.

 Little Lamb - Press Kit

ONLINE RELEASE
Little Lamb is being released online by Omeleto, the home of award winning shorts, for Halloween
2019.

FEATURE RELEASE
Little Lamb was selected for the women in genre feature anthology 7 From Etheria, released
theatrically throughout the USA from July 2017 and available on Amazon and iTunes. For more
information follow 7 From Etheria.

AWARDS
3rd Place Jury Award, Audfest Horror Shorts Film Festival 2017
Best Production Design, Women in Horror Film Festival 2017
Nominated for Best Thriller Short Film, Best Original Music/Score, Best FX, Best Actress, Best
Cinematography, Best Director, Women in Horror Film Festival 2017
Best Film (Aus) - WOW Film Festival 2016
Best Production Design - WOW Film Festival 2016
Best Thriller Short - Motor City Nightmares Haunted Halloween Horror Film Festival 2015
Honourable Mention - Australian Shorts, Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival 2014
Best Script - 10 by 10 Script Challenge, Stranger With My Face Film Festival 2012

SCREENINGS
Australian Premiere - Stranger With My Face Horror Film Festival - August 2014 (Australia)
Dungog Festival, August 2014 (Australia)
Melbourne Underground Film Festival, September 2014 (Australia)
North American Premiere - Fantastic Fest, September 2014 (USA)
New York City Independent Film Festival, October 2014 (USA)
Seen and Heard Film Festival, November 2014 (Australia)
MonsterFest, November 2014 (Australia)
All Things Horror, Etheria World Tour, December 2014 (USA)
Flickerfest, January 2015 (Australia)
Women in Horror Month Melbourne, February 2015 (Australia)
Flickerfest National Tour Hobart and Cygnet, March 2015 (Australia)
Hollyshorts Monthly Screening, March 2015 (USA)
Crimson Screen Horror Film Festival, May 2015 (USA)
Days of the Dead Horror Convention, Etheria World Tour, June 2015 (USA)
AFI/AACTA's Social Shorts, August 2015 (Australia)
Motor City Nightmares International Film Festival, September 2015 (USA)
Ax Wound Film Festival, October 2015 (USA)
Sacramento Horror Film Festival, October 2015 (USA)
Asian Premiere - Scream Queen Film Festival, October 2015 (Japan)
Halloweenapalooza, October 2015 (USA)
South American Premiere - Mac Horror Film Festival, November 2015 (Brazil)
Scream Queen Film Festival - Tour to Nagoya, February 2016 (Japan)
Women in Horror Month - Arlington Massachusetts, February 2016 (USA)
Women in Horror Month - Dublin, March 2016 (Ireland)
WOW Film Festival - Sydney, April 2016 (Australia)
Halloween Horror Picture Show - Florida, September 2016 (USA)
Women in Horror Film Festival - Georgia, September 2017 (USA)
 Little Lamb - Press Kit
Audience Awards at Infinity Film Festival - Beverly Hills , November, 2018 (USA)

MARKETS
Cannes Short Film Corner, May 2014 (France)
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival Market, February 2015 (France)
Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Market, June 2015 (USA)

BROADCAST
Little Lamb had been distributed for broadcast across USA, Europe, Middle East and Africa
by Shorts TV


CREDITS

FULL CREW LIST:
Written and Directed by HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Produced by HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS and ROGER SCHOLES
Director of Photography LEUKE MARRIOT
Production Manager CARMEN FALK
Production Co-ordinator NERISSA DAVIS
First Assistant Director CARMEN FALK
Composer BENJAMIN WALTER DOUGLAS
Music Producers BENJAMIN WALTER DOUGLAS MARTIN KENNEDY

Art Directors SALLY THOMPSON GUSHI SODA
Editor HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Sound Recordist TOBI ARMBRUSTER
Second Camera RICHARD WILLIAMS
Second Assistant Director LUVIEN KNIGHT
Third Assistant Director ROSE SCHRAMM
Additional Cinematography HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS ROGER SCHOLES
Camera Assistants ZAC HARDAKER LINDEN SCHOLES
Boom Operators WILL MOONEY CAITLIN CHAPPLE MAX KOROBACZ
Clapper and Grip HUGH JONES LINDEN SCHOLES
REMO GLENDINNING
Best Boy REMO GLENDINNING
Continuity MICHELLE WOOD
Gaffer RICHARD WILLIAMS
Key Grip BRENDAN SHANLEY HUGH JONES
Props Makers ROGER SCHOLES BRUCE HAY
Set Construction GUS SMITH ROGER SCHOLES GERHARD MAUSZ
Standby Props SALLY THOMPSON EVA HERRMANN
Make-up Artist KARIN ADAMS
Costume Designer HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Wardrobe Buyer JO COLLINS
Props Assistant RICHARD SPURRIER
Standby Wardrobe JO COLLINS
Stills Photographer ERYCA GREEN
Second Stills Photographer JONATHAN SCHOLES
 Little Lamb - Press Kit
Production Co-ordinator NERISSA DAVIS
Standby Wardrobe JO COLLINS
Unit Manager NERISSA DAVIS
Art Department Managers SALLY THOMPSON NERISSA DAVIS
Art Department Assistants ALICE CREGAN DALE EVANS LARA HEMBROW
EVA HERRMANN ED HILL NINNA MILLIKIN
Art Department Runners KEITH HINDE JORDAN CONWAY CONRAD GILBEY
Wardrobe Seamstresses MONICA ESCOBAR GUSHI SODA
Standby Wardrobe Assistant JUNIPER SHAW
Wardrobe Assistant CARMEN ESCOBAR ROBINSON
Make Up Assistants MONICA ESCOBAR CHARLOTTE ANTOINE
Unit Assistant RICHARD SPURRIER
Catering PAUL OOSTING
Runners BERNARD LLOYD ADAM RANSLEY
Horse Wrangler DANIELLE WHATLEY
Lamb Wrangler TALLULAH DAVIS
Horse Coach KIMBERLY WHITE
Data Wrangler MAX KOROBACZ
Script Consultant KAREL SEGERS ROGER SCHOLES NEIL FOLEY
Casting Consultant JANE BINNING
Titles HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Colour Grade HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Sound Editor HEIDI LEE DOUGLAS
Music Performers GEORGIA LUCY BENJAMIN WALTER DOUGLAS

JAMES GRIM MAILE INGALL JASON BUNN
Mentor Producer ROGER SCHOLES
Executive Producer ABI BINNING

FULL CAST LIST:
Louisa GEORGIA LUCY
Mr Black JAMES GRIM
Agnes JUDE KURING
Convict Women ALICIA ADAMS-GILL
THERESE BREEZE
TARA CARROLL
LOU CONBOY
ELLIE-JO CURE
TALLULAH DAVIS
CLAIRE FERRI
BRYONY GEEVES
DEIRDRE HARGRAVES
MEIKAYLA HARVEY
BRIONY KIDD
JULIET KRANYEZ
ANTOINETTE O’BRIEN
SARA PENSALFINI
CARMEN ESCOBAR ROBINSON
MELINDA STANDISH
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ELISE TAYLOR
SOPHIE TERREY
MARY THERESE MCDONALD
THEA WEBB
EMALISA WHITE

Prison Guards BENJAMIN WALTER DOUGLAS
KELVIN DALEY
JOHN PRESSER
JOHN WISE

Mr Black’s Horse DRAGON
Louisa’s Lamb RACHEL

This film is a Director’s Cut of a film produced with the assistance of Screen Australia and Wide
Angle Tasmania through the Raw Nerve Initiative 2012.