Chasing Shadows
– lessons from the undergrowth
Documentary film, 73 mins
The film has been described by early private screeners as ‘Honest, Raw and Compelling‘. It is a new take on the thylacine story.
A great soundtrack including music by Nick Barker (Nick Barker and the Reptiles) and stunning aerial cinematography by Peter Beeh ( Alien: Covenant , Pacific Rim: Uprising)
It’s a Boy’s Own Adventure meets a Heart of Darkness story.
The film explores the psyche of what it takes to make a film and break a dream.
Filmed entirely on location in takanya/ The Tarkine in the West of Tasmania, an area of sublime beauty and rawness, Andy shot the film by himself and pieced together the film over the last 8 years as time and headspace permitted from around 60 hours of footage.
Currently being submitted to festivals worldwide.
Follow our progress on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thefilmchasingshadows
ONE LINE SYNOPSIS
Filmmaker, Andy DelVecchio, jumps at the opportunity to film a team of adventurers in search of the Tasmanian Tiger only to find himself overcome by the challenges of nature, the questionable motivation and competence of his fellow humans, and ultimately his own involvement in the quest.
SYNOPSIS
In 2012 Community and corporate filmmaker, Andy DelVecchio, was contracted by two men, Mark and Rob, to document their search for the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger, the Thylacine. They spent the next six months together, with this one quest in mind. Andy’s plan was to make a film for them, whilst also documenting the journey for a greater story, of his own, on the Thylacine. Andy has, he tells us, been telling stories his whole working life, but this one has been a struggle ever since then. Andy tells us it is because he will be exposed if he tells the story right.
The men set out on their adventure with Andy and showed him their operations in the far west of Tasmania in an area very wild, but largely not protected. This area is know as the The Tarkine. The men were dogged in their approach, with days spent trudging through rainforest and over ridge tops through all weather, setting up camera traps. Although their intentions were not clear to Andy, he found the men interesting and the trips took on a ‘boys own adventure’ like quality which he was happy to be a part of.
However, Andy soon felt not as comfortable as maybe he should, trying to remain inconspicuous and a fly on the wall, he found himself questioning the mens tactics and intentions. Years of being a tour guide and maybe with a touch of being a control freak himself was starting to show. Andy slowly but surely crosses the line as a film maker and enters the film himself.
The men themselves are showing cracks in their relationship but seem never to go too far whilst the camera is turned on. We feel Andy is frustrated at this but as Andy reminds us , there was a tiger to catch, this film is supposed to be about Thylacines.
The men together continue to go on trips to the Tarkine area. In one successful trip they find what they think is a Thylacine den and get a phone call from an old bushman who has been watching Thylacines, whilst at work in the bush for years. Things are getting exciting for the men and they begin planning a mega trip. A trip to a place, two or three days walk, further west, “where no body has ever been” say the men.
But as the trips get more complicated and dangerous Andy is getting less confident in their abilities. He starts to question his involvement and his own intentions however he feels stuck and must continue.
…Many things happen to Andy and the men but you will have to watch the film to find out!
Do they find it? Maybe. What do they they find?
Also in the film is Andy’s friend Androo Kelly, a wildlife expert who gives us insight into the Tasmania and the thylacine and reminds us there are still many other animals in danger of disappearing and perhaps we should divert our efforts on saving what we have.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I came to this Island lutruwita/Tasmania, 27 years ago to start a tour for backpackers and as a joke, we put a money back guarantee on on our tours.
‘If you see and photograph a live Tasmanian tiger, we will refund your tour’ Now, the Tasmanian tiger has not officially been photographed for over 80 years. It is officially extinct.
Little did I know how this little joke would haunt me for the rest of my time here. I even had my own ‘probable’ experience with the animal and deciding to create a new story on our Islands iconic fable.
Literally telling stories to people has been my job nearly my whole working life. From being a tour guide to my current world as film maker and teacher and yet I have had great trouble telling this story in film for a very long time.
I was ill prepared to go and embed myself in this films production. Technically yes but emotionally, no. The subject matter was too close to me, the decision to go alone was probably, in hindsight, wrong, the be-friending of one of the participants , un professional. However what is , is, and I think this film would be a vastly different thing if I made better decisions.
After the abrupt ending to my journeys with Mark and Rob, the two characters in my film, I was left traumatised. I couldn’t sleep at home for the first few nights after the first part of filming finished and when I finally gathered the courage to return home, I showered with an axe besides me. I have later realised I had some sort of PTSD from the experience
In part I have looked upon the experience as a reflection of the story of the thylacine itself. Human beings made some pretty bad decisions in the past that have left us with a degraded environment and missing species and even peoples.
But now, what is, is.
It took me four years to even look at this footage after it was filmed. Sure, the story I had told a hundred times at dinner parties and the like but I couldn’t take myself back in there for real. The day I did look at the footage, I cut a short horror , Blair Witch style, with the footage. It was a little cathartic. It was a reflection of my trauma of events.
I cut many versions since then but there was always something missing, until late 2023, a full 11 years after I filmed, when, perhaps, because I needed that time in myself, I saw this story in a whole new light. At once separated from it by time and finally being able to see the story structure, and at the the same time, for maybe the first time, being very connected to who I was then and the issues I was dealing with, both inside the story and out.
The film follows the journey in chronological order but we do break the flow from time to time with ‘special comments’ by my friend and wildlife expert, Androo (yes Andrew but like kanga-roo) who is my mentor character and keeps us grounded especially as I float away into alternative theories that do often get tangled in this fable’s story world.
The comments I have had consistently from Test screenings, by people who know me and those who don’t is that this story is ‘Compelling’ and ‘Honest’. I hope so…
THE FILMMAKERS
Andy Del Vecchio (Director/ Co-Producer/Writer/Editor)
Andy DelVecchio is a corporate and community filmmaker and Screen and Media teacher based in Launceston Tasmania. He has a long background in storytelling from tour guiding, teaching and filmmaking over 3 decades.
As director and or producer Andy has completed many documentaries and some dramas in short form, some of which have been screened by Australian broadcasters ( ABC, ABC 2, ABC 24, SCTV, Ch.31)
Chasing Shadows is Andy’s first feature film.
John Swindells (Producer/Director/co-writer)
Born in Toronto, Canada, John Swindells has been writing/producing/directing documentary films and new media projects for over thirty years around the world. His filmmaking journey started in rural southern India where he documented the life of an 85-year old English Benedictine monk who had gone to India in search of “the other half of his soul”. He made a film with the Sioux Indians in South Dakota about their indigenous agricultural schemes, has gotten into the head of an extraordinary young man in Melbourne who is living with schizophrenia, followed a New Age cult as they conducted a trial of their therapy on 2000 traumatised African children, and, in partnership with Peter Singer, documented the highly effective life of the activist who stopped animal testing in America.
His 2009 documentary, A Family Divided, for SBS television won best Human Rights film at the Amsterdam Film Festival 2010 and Best Documentary at the 2010 Honolulu Film Festival.
Over the years, John’s work has been screened by broadcasters around the world; including ABC (Australia), Channel Four (UK), TVNZ, PBS (US) and numerous other networks.
He has a number of other projects in development and pre-production.
Contact: Producer: John Swindells
More Than Illusion Media
email: johno@mail.com
tel: +61 (0) 419285945
Director : Andy DelVecchio
Doublesee Media
email: andy@doublesee.com.au
tel: +61 ( 0) 407396958
Doublesee Media Tasmania 