Private Project

Small

2023 WINNER of the Australian Production Design Guild Award for Emerging Designer for a Screen Production

In the 19th century and a strange wilderness, Mary has struggled against the plan for her life that her older brother and father hold for her. As smallpox strikes, Mary’s choice lies between accepting this narrow prospect and following a dangerous path beyond the home.

  • Sarah Hegge-Taylor
    Director
  • Sarah Hegge-Taylor
    Writer
  • James Walsh
    Writer
  • Lucinda Halls
    Producer
  • Evangeline Parks
    Producer
  • Mattie McLeod
    Producer
  • Paige Joustra
    Key Cast
    "Mary Small"
  • Hamish Johnston
    Key Cast
    "James Small"
  • Andy McPhee
    Key Cast
    "Septimus Small"
  • Brenna Cockrem
    Key Cast
    "Adeline Small"
  • Riley Hart
    Director of Photography
  • Pernell Marsden
    Production Designer
  • Alex Olijnyk
    Composer
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Drama, Horror, Historical
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 11 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.66:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Victorian College of the Arts
Director Biography - Sarah Hegge-Taylor

Sarah Hegge-Taylor is a director/writer based in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia but hailing from the swampy subtropical lands of Meanjin/Brisbane. She ran away from home at 18 after not graduating high school because she spent most of her days hiding in the library watching DVDs and going to the gothic Regent cinema in town.

Sarah is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts Film and Television School and likes making films that feel like mythological poems about the experiences of internal and external decay.

Currently studying Honours at VCA, in pre-production on her next short, Pulp, she is also developing a feature, Rotten Mangoes, set in her hometown of Brisbane, Australia, a vividly painted thriller about poor teenage girls seeking revenge on the private school boys who have hurt them.

She is also working as an independent producer and currently has a number of films in the festival circuit including short Hiraeth (2023) dir. Lucien Perry and feature film Fwends (2024) dir. Sophie Somerville.

She likes making films with her friends going on long thinking bushwalks in the Australian wilderness, taking photos, and thinking a lot about how light affects the world.

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Director Statement

Small is a film about my family both past and present. I am descended from the Small family who came to Australia as convicts on the first fleet.

It is a film about the intergenerational trauma of colonial settler horror and the greed and sorrow that manifests in the soul. The film was born out of the strange feeling of being small in dynamics that have hurt me, and then how we try to make ourselves larger.

I grew up in Brisbane on social welfare payments and for me Small is an accomplishment I couldn't really fathom even five years ago.

I'm keen to continue to make work that attacks gender and class in Australia's mythos, which sits rooted in the dreamscapes of uncomfortable people and their strange realities.

Small a film that is about how we feel disconnected, has ironically been one of the most connective experiences of my life and envigorated me into making work with great people who make me happy to be alive in the face of death.