'Silent Fear' poses no fear for rising Kiwi filmmaker

May 11, 2011

Auckland director-producer Amanda Phillips, 25, who is in Cannes this week to promote Desired, her first completed feature film, will also be pitching Silent Fear, a claustrophobic thriller she has just added to her development slate.

Silent Fear is being produced by Amanda's production company, Film Shock Productions, in association with Morcan Motion Pictures whose directors Lance and James Morcan also wrote the screenplay.

Amanda, who will also direct Silent Fear, describes her latest project as a worthy follow-up to Desired, the film which represents her directorial debut and which will premiere at Cannes Marche Du Film on May 17.

“Silent Fear is highly unique as it's set in a university for the deaf in a New Zealand city,” she says. “It's about a female detective who is fluent in sign language and is assigned to investigate the murder of a deaf student at the university.

“The investigation coincides with a student contracting a deadly flu virus, which results in the university being sealed off from the outside world. When more students are murdered, it's clearly the work of a serial killer. The stakes rise as the detective becomes the killer's next target and the deadly virus claims more lives.”

Amanda says the flu virus sub-plot was inspired by the 2009 Swine Flu pandemic. She also says portraying the plight of deaf students authentically will be the challenge facing her and the actors.

“It's sure to be my toughest challenge yet, but I'm looking forward to it.”

Amanda and producer-husband Caleb Phillips have meetings lined up in Cannes this week and next to promote both Silent Fear and Desired with a view to securing worldwide distribution and sales agency representation.

Tauranga-based writer-producer Lance Morcan, who wrote the screenplay with his son James, says they are convinced Silent Fear has the makings of a gripping feature film.

“The chilling aspect is the events happen at a university for the deaf where interned students and staff have two killers to contend with – a serial killer and a deadly virus,” he says. “This lends itself to edge-of-your-seat viewing for cinema-goers.”

ENDS

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