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The Green Knight

THE GREEN KNIGHT is a coming of age story about Arthur’s nephew and youngest of his knights. Adapted from the 14th century Arthurian poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we follow Gawain as he learns his humility and thereby earning his true nobility.

Arrogant and privileged, Gawain naively accepts a challenge from the Green Knight thinking he cannot lose. When his plan goes awry, he must seek out the Green Knight in a year and a day and pay his debt by allowing the knight to return the certainly fatal blow Gawain has struck.

As Gawain follows his quest seeking out the knight’s Green Chapel, his mettle is challenged and tested. Gawain’s most difficult test comes, however, at the hands of a young peasant, forcing Gawain to choose between his honor and duty as a knight of the king or to give up his quest and follow his heart.

  • Mark Freeman
    Director
    The Dragon Wall
  • Brandon St. Cyr
    Director
    The Dragon Wall
  • Mark Freeman
    Writer
    The Dragon Wall
  • Mark Freeman
    Producer
    The Dragon Wall
  • Brandon St. Cyr
    Producer
    The Dragon Wall, Crystal River
  • Callum Adams
    Key Cast
    "Gawain"
    City on a Hill, Blue Bloods, Episodes, The Blacklist, Berlin Station, Humans.
  • Keefe Healy
    Key Cast
    "Arthur"
    Tin Can Odyssey, The Dragon Wall
  • Aleah Black
    Key Cast
    "Bronwyn"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, drama
  • Runtime:
    38 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 8, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    7,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.2:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Made Here Film Festival
    Burlington, VT
    United States
    April 23, 2022
    North American Premiere
    Audience Favorite Award
  • Austin Indie Fest
    Austin, Texas
    United States
    January 13, 2023
    Texas Premiere
    Best Fantasy Film
Director Biography - Mark Freeman, Brandon St. Cyr

Mark Freeman is a writer and filmmaker who lives in northern Vermont with his wife and two daughters. Mark loves storytelling, in all its forms, be it long or short form fiction or filmmaking. He is driven to find the thread that connects not only the through line of every tale, but that element of every piece which connects it to his audience. The Green Knight is his third narrative film with producing partner and co-director Brandon St. Cyr.

Brandon St. Cyr is a filmmaker and visual effects artist living in northern Vermont with his wife, two kids and a dog (Oscar). Brandon has a passion for visual storytelling and everything that goes into building it; the art and the technical craft. Whether it's on a large film set with a hundred moving parts, or it's just him late at night trying to find the perfect place to cut. He is the owner/operator of Brandon StCyr Productions, a commercial video business. The Green Knight is his 5th narrative film and third with co-director Mark Freeman.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

We had a very specific mindset when we set out to adapt the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into a film. Our vision of Gawain was of a privileged, arrogant, young knight, raised within the walls of Camelot by his uncle the king, which lent itself to a coming of age tale and an arc of self discovery. Which made our choice of title, The Green Knight, more meaningful. Our film is a retelling of the Arthurian tale about a rogue knight dressed in green armor who challenges the king’s court to a contest of bravery, but it’s also a tale of a young knight—green in his experience—learning what it truly means to be a knight of the Round Table.

As children of the 80s, we find ourselves nostalgic filmmakers, desiring to make content similar to that we devoured at Saturday morning matinees. We desire to make films that challenge tweens and young adults and that are still enjoyable and mature enough for their parents and adults. Which was our exact approach in bringing our vision of The Green Knight to the screen.

Even though this is a classic Arthurian tale, we didn’t want to tell it in a traditional sense. When the film opens, we find Gawain on his quest for the Green Chapel, having already struck the decisive blow against the Green Knight. We felt that in telling this story in short film form, we did not have a lot of time to slowly build over a feature’s length, and so needed to create conflict and tension right from the start. By telling Gawain’s story non-linearly, we jump between the present and flashes of the past to slowly reveal what has brought Gawain to this point in his life, culminating in his arrival at the Green Chapel and his comeuppance at the hands of the Green Knight.

Being independent filmmakers from Vermont, we faced more than a few challenges in tackling a fantasy film, however. Our first was budget, we had little to no money to make the film, so we turned to Kickstarter and crowd sourced our budget, which along with some additional funds came to approximately $7500. Probably the greatest challenge we faced with our limited budget, was having to work on the film in our free time, which is why The Green Knight was ten years in the making. Had it not been the passion project it is, we may never have found the stamina and resolve to bring it to completion.

In addition to having a very clear idea of Gawain’s character arc, we also had a very clear idea of how we wanted our film to look. Again working within a limited budget, but also wanting to harken back to fantasy films we loved growing up, we leaned heavily on the beautiful Vermont landscape to help tell our story. We desired to have a unique style for our Gawain and characters, but one that also felt true and traditional as well… and a world that felt fully lived in. Deliberate in our color palette for characters, costumes, and even the overall look of the film, to set the tone and hopefully allow the audience to connect with this character and his quest.