Dark Child
Dark Child
Original title: Dark Child
Directed by: Ursula Williams
Produced by: Alexander Behse (Monsoon Pictures International, New Zealand)
Country of production: New Zealand
Runtime: 90'
Expected release: Januray, 2024
Production stage: Shooting
Budget: $1M USD (100% in place)
1st feature: Yes
Looking for: Sales Agents
Synopsis:
Eminent household star Marlon Williams is pissing off his publicist by choosing to write and record his next album in the indigenous language of New Zealand, te reo Māori. This feature music documentary secures a years unvarnished access to a rising star from the bottom of the globe on his journey to international fame. Dark Child, befitting the laid back personality of its subject, will never take itself too seriously and it will never forget that, at heart, it is a story of joyful self discovery and reclamation; on that journey, we witness Marlon connecting the threads of self. This, of course, is always something to celebrate.
Director’s profile:
Ursula has a knack for telling intimate stories. As Head of Production for VICE New Zealand she produced and directed a number of award-winning documentaries. Her most recently awarded documentary, Deportees of Tonga: Gangsters in Paradise, has so far been viewed by over eleven million people worldwide and was awarded Best Feature Video at the 2021 Voyager Media Awards. The Zealandia series, which Ursula produced and directed, has been picked up by networks all over the globe and viewed collectively by nearly twenty five million people. Since VICE, Ursula has directed the six part series Milk and Money on the New Zealand dairy industry which was picked up by The Guardian.
Producers’s profile:
German born Alexander Behse has been in the Pacific for over two decades and swiftly established himself as one of NZ’s most respected film and television producers. Landmark productions include, the top 3 NZ feature documentaries of all time POI-E: The Story of our Song (Sony Pictures); the Hulu released and globally sold Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web; My Year with Helen about former PM Helen Clark (EP) and NZ’s first HBOmax Original: There is no I in Threesome.