SON OF A LION

Director Benjamin Gilmour, a Sydney-based ambulance paramedic, was working as a unit nurse on UK film sets when he first became interested in filmmaking. While at the Pakistan Northwest Frontier in 2001 he fell in love with the region, and his idea for this film came about when he witnessed a group of young boys catching bullet-shells as they fell from the air after being test-fired skywards – and heard from his guide that one of the boys wanted to go to school instead. He later spent eight months in the region learning Pashto, making contacts and building relationships; and returned in 2006 to complete filming. The result is a sensitive portrait of an eleven-year-old boy who works with his fundamentalist, widowed father in their gun-making workshop, but who longs to get an education. Cast entirely with non-professional actors, this debut feature blends drama and documentary to achieve a film with subtlety, intensity and humour. (Amelia Groom)