Murdoch University lecturer Damian Fasolo.
Camera IconMurdoch University lecturer Damian Fasolo. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Film tells tale of a young couple’s marriage breakdown, the ensuing pain and destruction, and ultimately their road to redemption.

Headshot of Josh Zimmerman
Josh ZimmermanMelville Gazette

MURDOCH University lecturer Damian Fasolo’s five year labour of love, debut feature film Broken, is finally complete.

Mr Fasolo, from the university’s School of Arts, was the writer, director, editor, cinematographer, colourist and co-producer of the film.

It was shot with the help of Murdoch University screen production students and tells the story of a young couple’s marriage breakdown, the ensuing pain and destruction, and ultimately their road to redemption.

PerthNow Digital Edition.
Your local paper, whenever you want it.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Students had various roles in the filmmaking process, including production, management, camera, lighting and design.

Among the students to contribute was Wayne Davies, a three-time WA Screen Awards best actor winner, who was a co-producer on the film.

Tragically, Mr Davies committed suicide in early 2016 just before he was to graduate with a Bachelor in Media from Murdoch.

“There would not have been a film without Wayne,” Mr Fasolo said.

“He found all the locations we used in Denmark and worked incredibly hard to help me realise this work. The film is dedicated to him.”

Murdoch staff also played an important part in the production with former Pixar animator Simon Allen providing visual effects, Leo Murray helping with sound design, Glen Stasiuk supervising the script and Ben Morton composing the music.

The film will form part of Mr Fasolo’s PhD on independent filmmaking.

“We worked with virtually no money and a skeleton crew, a filmmaking approach which is becoming more common in the industry,” he said.

A lot of my research is into multi-skilled filmmakers and the best way for me to learn about this was to do it myself.

“It took me two years and 30 drafts to hone the script, and then 28 days to shoot Broken in 2015.

“A lot of people on the production worked for free – their incredible generosity ensured the film only cost $15,000 to make.

“I have loved the process and the challenge and am incredibly proud of the film. The experience has also made me a better teacher because I now have years of hands-on experience to share with students coming through both our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.”

Mr Fasolo has started the process of entering Broken into film festivals so that it can gain a wider audience, help him to build industry contacts and ideally find the film a distributor.

“My main piece of advice for students looking to embark on a career in filmmaking is that things may go wrong, but the way you handle the setbacks will be what sees you through,” he said.

“You will have to be flexible and make compromises, but utilise your contacts and the talents of your friends and colleagues – they will help you to realise your dream.”

The film will be screened for the first time for cast and crew on Monday, April 10 at Luna on SX in Fremantle.

More information and news about Broken is available at www.facebook.com/brokenamovie.