SAMARITAN Cast Interview: Gail Beker

Independent Films, Interviews
by Digicosm TV

Interview with SAMARITAN lead actress Gail Beker as she discusses the filming of the short, the film's themes of violence in society and the fine line she had to take in order to play her character.

From SMALL WAVE FILMS.

Transcripts / Production notes / Scripts

Director’s Statement

SAMARITAN is a film with a simple but important message: helping others in distress can have serious consequences for a society trying to grabble with violence and those that perpetrate it. As director, I hoped to offer an insight into the trauma experienced by victims of crime and impart the message in the film that as a society we must do much more to prevent such tragedies occurring in the future.

Set within the CBD of a large city, SAMARITAN describes the escalation of events that begin with an altercation between a man and a woman and ends with the fatal shooting of bystanders coming to the woman’s aid. The true horror of this event is examined in the aftermath through the eyes of one of the survivors.

The importance of this story is that it could happen any where at any time to any one. But how do we as individuals in a modern society deal with these events? And what responsibility do we have as a society to make perpetrators accountable for the horror they create?

Events such as the one depicted in the screenplay of SAMARITAN have happened before in Australia: Hoddle Street, Queen Street and Port Arthur. The most recent shooting tragedy occurred in the Melbourne CBD last June. This random and unprovoked tragedy led to the death of a father of three and the wounding of two others. Australia was shocked. The media then posed the question to us as a society; “Is it still safe (or right) to help others?” The national debate that followed underlines the relevance of this story for any Australian audience; “In the same situation, what would you have done if you were aware of the possible consequences?”.