Murder, Mossman, and the movies
Thursday 6 December 2012
Murder, Mossman, and the movies
In 1952 a 22 year-old Brisbane woman was brutally bashed and strangled by a "maniacal killer" in a case that has remained unsolved for 60 years.
It's a cold case that has fascinated a former Mossman High School student and school captain come movie producer who has now earned a major award for her documentary on the mystery - Betty Shanks: The Wilston Murder.
Maya Weidner graduated from Mossman High School in 2009 and is just days away from graduating from the Queensland University of Technology where she aims to follow her passion and pursue a career in film.
Maya, who teamed up with Rebecca Newman, daughter of Queensland Premier, Campbell, won the award for Best Documentary at the Queensland New Filmmaker Awards (part of the prestigious Brisbane International Film Festival) for their graduate film.
Maya told The Newsport there was a significant amount of research that went into the project.
"We pitched it in September last year and we researched it until around February.
"We went to the Queensland Police Museum, we did some crime tours around the Brisbane CBD, and there's a book that's been published that Ken Blanch (pictured below with Maya and Rebecca) wrote. He's 84 now and he was a journalist that was actually there on the day that it happened.
"We got that book and pretty much took the story out of that," she said.
The movie cost $3,000 to make which Maya and Rebecca (the movie's Director) fundraised to turn the project into a reality.
Maya said her interest in film making was cemented thanks to a former teacher in Mossman.
"I was interested from about Grade 10 onwards. One of the teachers at Mossman High, Elliot Davidson, took us to the set of The Pacific...there was overwhelming structure and organisation, it's not about just going out and filming something.
"For me that's what secured the idea of doing it."
It was a triumphant return to the Brisbane International Film Festival for Maya who attended the event during her Mossman High School days.
"I went there in year 12 with Elliot. Three years later we've won it so that was kind of exciting," Maya said.
Maya is now working on a new trailer called 'Rise of the Underdog'. The trailer will then be used to secure funding for a feature film which will star former Blue Heelers actor, Martin Sacks.
Betty Shanks: The Wilston Murder is currently being screened at a number of film festivals, and there is a Facebook page dedicated to the movie.