We’ve just got back from the shoot of our ambitious short film Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (30 minutes), a period drama adapted from the famous medieval tale of the same name.

The long and complicated shoot (a castle collapsed!) made us go over budget. We need your contribution to help pay for the post-production and special effects… such as cutting off the head of our headless horseman!

SYNOPSIS :

Young Sir Gawain accepts a challenge from a mysterious Green Knight who challenges any knight to strike him with his axe if he accepts to receive the same blow in a year and a day. Gawain accepts, takes the axe, and, with one blow, cuts the Green knight’s head off, happy to be rid of him. But the Green Knight stands up, picks up his head and leaves… but not before reminding Gawain of his promise to meet again…

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THE PROJECT:

It’s an extraordinary story, part of the legends of King Arthur. It was written 700 years ago on a parchment now kept in the British Library. It’s extraordinary for several reasons. Firstly, no one knows who, man or woman, was the author of the text.

Secondly, 700 years later, no one can agree on what this mysterious story actually means. The plot is complex, full of different themes and symbols. After reading it, everyone comes away with their own personal interpretation of the story.

Like the story it’s adapted from, our film Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is about a young man dragged into an external challenge and inner quest, lost amidst a hostile nature in the middle of winter. It’s an ambitious project, a period piece, a medieval romance that we shot last March in the mists, castles and wild landscapes of Brittany, western France, a region with shared roots in celtic culture and literature.

The Cast

Gawain: Ernst Umhauer

Bertilak: Malik Zidi

Lady Bertilak: Laure Marsac

The Servant: Bertrand Constant

The Arrogant Knight: Grégoire Colin

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WHY HELP US?

We’ve spent our whole budget on the three week shoot in Brittany. We encountered a few unexpected events that severely impacted the budget, namely our main set (interiors): Pontivy castle, which collapsed three weeks before the shoot. (yes it will be restored in due time) Anyway, we had to find another set, 200km further north, with all the associated extra costs (set hire, extra transport and accommodation).

Then the abbey we were meant to shoot the main party scene in finally refused because they didn’t want the Green Knight’s horse riding in. As there was no other suitable medieval hall in all of Brittany (1/ beautiful enough; 2/ with a door high enough to let a rider in), we had to travel another 600 km to shoot an extra two days at a different, privately owned location in Burgundy. At substantial extra cost: set hire, extra truck, camera, and lighting equipment hire, transport, accommodation of 25 extras etc.

Sir Gawain has been our whole life for these past two years. Two years that we’ve been working on it, without pay, from our flat.

This work has brought results, and France 2 (the main French national TV station) has pre-purchased the film. This pre-purchase doesn’t cover the whole budget, but it displays recognition of the quality of our work, an essential step in advancing towards making feature films and bringing medieval glory to the big screen!

The film has been shot and needs only you to be finalised!

For this, we need your help to finance the post-production, an essential step in guaranteeing the film’s sound and visual quality.

Sire Gauvain et le Chevalier Vert / Sir Gawain and the Green Knight