Stasch Radwanski: former commercial director in Hong Kong makes moves to capture the weird wonderful world of Balinese mysticism.
[Interview at itvfest 2011with Stasch Radwanski, director/director of photography for the movie “Killer God” voted “Best-in-Show”, August 2011.]
Part of the winning team: From Left to right. Director/Cameraman Stasch Radwanski, Actors, Virginia Leigh as Charlize Elkin and Frank J. Zupancic as Gord Cooper.
Itvfest.
Where did the inspiration for the story come from?
SR
I have always been a great fan of Asia in general: there is such a diverse sense of lore in the region. I was visiting Bali, Indonesia in late 2009 where I sat watching a dawn ritual at a lakeside Balinese temple. Beautifully costumed Balinese women were preparing the temple for a festival that day and it was resplendent in flags and offerings. I simply thought: wouldn’t it be interesting to see a Balinese temple at the edge of Canadian lake in the middle of the winter…
Itvfest.
And the story started from a single image?
SR.
Yes. The screenplay was born out of simple questions like, why is it there? Who built it? What dark secrets could it hide? We wanted to bring the vibrant folk lore of Bali into the snowy landscapes of Ontario, Canada. A visual and in many ways, spiritual conflict, that we believed had great potential for a movie-of-the–week.
Itvfest.
Academy Consultants in Toronto have billed “Killer God” as a “made-for-TV-movie” doesn’t that restrict the box office potential of your film?
SR
We wanted to make a movie for the TV market, this was part of our strategy, so we ensured that bad language was kept to a minimum and there was no horrendous violence or gratuitous sex. We tried to make it as thrilling and interesting as we could within our budget and we also ensured that it was visually interesting and slick. We hope that this has made the film more accessible to all TV markets and will in turn lead to a longer ‘shelf life’ as its content can be broadcast on most networks throughout the World without too much restriction. ( We hope!)
Itvfest.
Your trailer at: killergodmovie.com is pretty scary and many have billed this as a ‘horror’ movie. How would you describe it?
SR
I would call it a macabre thriller. As you know the media industry likes to put tags on movie genres…a love story, an action drama or in our case, a horror film. It was a difficult call to try and make a thriller with scary overtones that fell within our strategic aims. There was always the risk that the die-hard horror fans would shun it because violence is restrained, but web sites like Twitch and Dread Central have been very supportive and encouraging. In general we have found the independent ‘horror community’ to be an enthusiastic band of brothers and sisters and (strange as it may seem) they’re also are a hell-of-a-lot of fun!
Itvfest.
Have you had interest from any distributers yet?
SR.
“Killer God” was completed in July of 2011. We have had 1 preliminary offer from a Canadian cable company but we did not want to put the movie on the market proper until we had some formal audience feedback. Itvfest 2011 is the film’s first public viewing and we are delighted with the response. Next we go to Toronto, home ground, so we’ll see how Canadians like our show.
Itvfest.
Well, we certainly liked your movie here, it must be wonderful to walk away with the top prize of ‘best-in-show at this years itvfest here in Hollywood?
SR.
Yes it is. We had great financial backers in Canada, a wonderful Canadian cast headed by Frank J. Zupancic and Virginia Leigh and a young and dedicated crew. Everyone had a part in this film’s success here. And let’s not forget the gracious and kind people in Bali, Indonesia…
[Interview Ends]
ABOUT STASCH RADWANSKI
Ran Academy One Films Ltd. in Hong Kong in the late 70’s through the 80’s and early 90’s.
Whilst in Hong Kong, made over 1,200 TV commercials for most of Asia’s ‘blue-chip’ clients and agencies.
Retired from TV commercials in the late 90’s and now writes and directs feature films.
Also works as a freelance Director of Photography in movies and TV.
Currently lives on an island in the Philippines, but spends most of his time traveling with his work.
Misses Hong Kong very much!
For further info visit www.staschradwanski.com