Set in Thailand and filmed entirely on location in Sattahip and Kanchanaburi, principle photography is now complete for “Shadow Island”, a feature film co-production co-ordinated by FM Film Co., Ltd and Location Thailand Co Ltd.  Post Production is underway in the United States and is expected to be released in October 2008.

A thriller, the film has some well known Thai/Farang cast and will be a breakout movie to international markets for some of the cast.  Ken Streutker (www.imdb.com/name/nm1753855/) plays the evil Thomas Saville who sets up his son and his son’s friends to die to repay his past greed.  He arranges a holiday for his son Peter, (David Asavanond – www.imdb.cm/name/nm1957822/) who takes his girlfriend Simone (Angela May – www.imdb.com/name/nm2240623 ), Jack (Patou Whale) and Jane (Anna Isaraporn) to the mysterious island for a holiday.  They are transported by Thomas’ past associate Captain Robards (Keith Lounton – www.imdb.com/names/nm2316979/) to the unchartered island where Thomas’ evil intentions are revealed.

Relying on his son’s behaviour, Peter steals the remaining emerald from an ancient idol and the island ‘activates’ its army of past ghostly captives, and becomes the predator in reclaiming lives for Thomas’ past debts using bloodthirsty pirates led by the Black Buccaneer, former US Heavyweight ‘King Of The Cage’, Big Al Harlow (www.imdb.com/name/nm2065184/).

Simone becomes the only survivor, barely escaping the island’s clutches to confront Thomas Saville and expose his evil past and seek her revenge for the deaths of her boyfriend and her friends.

Producer, expat Australian Dr Ric Lawes, brought together an international cast & crew (from USA, England, Canada, Singapore, Australia and Thailand) to ensure maximum success in independent markets exposing Thailand as an ideal place to film.  Lawes says shooting in Thailand is the most rewarding experience of his life as a filmmaker in its ‘right-to-work’ non union environment.

Directors of Photography were Mr Milson Carroll Raver from New Jersey and Mr Laurie Gilbert from Singapore, shot with High Definition Cameras from Sony (CineAlta F900’s), and crews and equipment were supplied from Cinerent Thailand.   This was Lawes’ first shoot away from film and he was delighted with the results.  He now realises the versatility and cost effectiveness for low budget movies but comments, lighting (despite camera sensitivity, is critical (his former background) and the lighting for this thriller was a major consideration of the movie.  Both DP’s had shot HD before using film lenses.  Raver claimed he had never worked on a film of this structure and was surprised at the ease at which things happened.  Raver & Gilbert both concurred ‘these crews were the best they had ever worked with!’

Shadow Island was an original story by 2nd Unit Director, Stephen Rouse.  First draft came from Kevin Harriman, after which, a major re-write and complete restructure was undertaken and the final screenplay was completed over a five month period prior and began preproduction in September 2005.  The film has been over a year in the making and is now in Post Production.

Equipment was supplied by Cinerent and Kantana from within Thailand with the majority of crew being Thai nationals.  The crew numbered around 66 with floating extras sometimes pushing numbers to 85.

Lawes adopted a ‘team approach’ between actors, heads of department crew and executives who were all asked for input.  Lawes insisted in full transparency and all decisions were made following consultations.  Scenes and dialogue were constantly upgraded to suit the cast and the ‘look’.   The idea of multiple local Thai companies doing a co-production, multiple directors and multiple DP’s may have sounded absurd but Lawes said the experience being brought to the table created a look only matched by large Hollywood studio pictures.  In his opinion it is an extremely high quality ‘indie’.  Post Production and VFX Supervisor Tom Gunn in the US says this film has a multi million dollar look and some exquisite visuals.  He has a lot of work to do but says this should be a theatrical release.

The film by all accounts, will be a financial success.  Scenes reminiscent of a tourist brochure soon becomes the viewers nightmare as the light fades, the darkness forms and the weather sours.  Doing most effects “in camera” and on location, the DP’s proved their prowess and Lawes says the quality of the film is remarkable.   There have been offers already from Europe, USA and Asia for rights but Lawes claims he will not sell any yet until completed and then, only to those markets he wishes to enter.  With a banking and finance background he says the last thing he wants is to ‘prostitute’ the film and place funds at risk.  He claims to have a moral obligation to look after those who believed in this project with the cast due for ‘back-end’ loaded deals to facilitate the film within the budget.  There were some deferrals as part of the investment and the film was made without any outside finance or investment.

The film has been made entirely on location by Lawes, Srisomsub and Rouse with assistance from the actors and some help from creditors.

All sales enquiries to ric@locationthailand.com