James Howard’s fifth film, a 30-minute whodunit set in the Garden of Eden, will debut at the Footscray Library. 75798 Picture: JOE MASTROIANNI
By Charlene Gatt
IT’S a whodunit film set in perhaps the most bizarre place of all – the Garden of Eden.
James Howard is using the religious backdrop for his latest offering Eden, a 30-minute short film that is a spoof on your traditional murder mystery and centres around lead character Evelyn Eden.
“This film was originally going to be a murder mystery in the garden section in Bunnings, but I had difficulty (getting permission to film), so I transferred it to the garden of Eden,” Mr Howard, who wrote and directed the film, said.
Eden is the 69-year-old’s fifth short film.
“I’m an incurable writer,” he said.
“I come across this idea based upon the murder of a homeless man at Footscray Park. I’d written a monologue to perform and out of the blue I thought, why not make a film?
“I did a bit of research on his background and where he was murdered.
“I knew details about him – I knew that he lived in a park for about nine months, and he had a lot of books, and he had a radio and he had a cap.
“I took all that and I made him an intelligent man, who for some reason had dropped out of society. That was the first film.”
His latest film has a more light-hearted feel and makes fun of its unusual backdrop.
Eden will make its debut at the Footscray Library on Friday 3 February at 6.30pm. Two other screenings will be held at the Dancing Dog Theatre and the West Footscray Library.
