Private Project

Thirty

It is Passover.

Nationalist conspirators are plotting the overthrow of the ruling elite.

One of them is about to change the course of history.

The Gospels left Judas' motives uncertain, but history has not been kind to the infamous Apostle. THIRTY is a unique short film based on the play Guerrilla by John Cargill Thompson, which retells the story of Christ's betrayal from the perspective of Judas during the moments immediately following the Last Supper.

The events of that fateful night have been transported to somewhere in the late 20th Century. This shocking and controversial reinterpretation of events feasibly casts Judas in a completely new light, and challenges our preconceptions of the ultimate traitor.

  • Paul Harry Thomas
    Director
  • Nathan Leigh Horrocks
    Writer
  • John Cargill Thompson
    Writer
  • Nathan Leigh Horrocks
    Producer
  • Paul Harry Thomas
    Producer
  • John Kay Steel
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 43 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 5, 2010
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Paul Harry Thomas

Paul sold his marketing company, Lightspeed Communications Ltd, in 2001 in order to pursue his ambitions in film and television, and quickly rose to Production Co-ordinator on several projects, including the Belgian feature film, Ellektra, which picked up 19 international awards.

He set up Montambanco Productions with the specific intention of producing bold, new projects that explore and challenge people's attitudes to serious issues through the medium of film.

Since launching Montambanco, Paul has produced several fiction and non-fiction films, including THE GREAT DRAG RACE and CHRIST ALMIGHTY.

This is his first time in the role of director.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement


A couple of years ago, my friend John Kay Steel handed me a script for a monologue written by the late Scottish playwright John Cargill Thompson. I read the script and was immediately gripped by the intensity of the writing and the originality of its approach to such an important historical event.

John had performed the monologue many times on stage and I asked him to come over and read it for me in my kitchen. After just a few minutes, I noticed that the hairs on my arms were standing straight, and I knew instantly that I had a duty to try to bring this remarkable text to the screen.

In the theatrical version, the audience effectively plays the role of Judas' fellow national conspirators. Our first challenge with the film was therefore to create a reaction mechanism that would act as a substitute for the audience. To this end, we created five other characters based on archetypes. Through their interactions with Judas, we hoped to emulate the tension generated between actor and audience in the theatre.

Monologues do not transfer easily to the screen, so our next challenge was to keep the audience engaged for the duration of the film. As well as adapting the script to give voices to some of the other characters, we placed great emphasis on intricate set design and dramatic lighting. We also wrote extensive backstories for all the supporting characters, even though they share just a handful of lines between them. Our intention was to add depth and complexity to Judas' relationships in order to intrigue and hold the intention of the audience.

Importantly, we decided to bring the story forward to a more contemporary but unspecified point in time. In doing so, I hope that the film's message will resonate vividly with a society more accustomed to suicide bombers than swords and tabards.

Our final challenge was to do all of this for almost no money. We sold one hundred shares at £40 each, and assembled an outstanding crew who could make such a small sum go as far as possible.

I believe we have succeeded in producing a worthy addition to the Crucifixion canon, and I am deeply proud to be the first director to bring John Cargill Thompson's electrifying writing to the screen.

I hope he would have liked it.