French Murder Mystery Wins in Sydney Film Competition

Three months ago, the Sapphire Coast Anglican College Year 9 – 10 French class entered a short film in French under the direction and guidance of French / English teacher Stephane Cordier for one of the contests of the prestigious Sydney Alliance Française. The film script had to be written, memorised and acted in flawless French by the students.

The competition was sure to be fierce, with many of the top schools in the state entering the French short film contest. Erin Hayman, Kiran Rajesh, Brittany Meers, Matthew Sims, Elly Burhop, Lily Sheridan and Alice Cleveley thought of re-visiting the murder-mystery genre in French with the added zest of humour. The French characters were deliciously stereotyped: the chateau landlord, the faithful butler, the jealous wife, the innocent maid, the cook, the baffled detectives and a strange cat were some elements that were woven into the plot to try and articulate an original narrative in French.

After three weeks of script writing, translating, memorising the lines, pronunciation master classes, filming, editing… and many bloopers later the short French film was ready and sent to the judges in Sydney for the competition.

The award ceremony took place on Friday 30^th November 2012 and guess what? The Bega students won, in front of the Sydney selective schools, contributing to putting Bega on the map once more (two of Mr Cordier’s Year 9 – 10 classes had already collected awards in 2009 and 2010!)

It was lucky that there was an extra bag in the luggage taken to Sydney in case the students won anything, since the generous Alliance Française de Sydney literally showered the Bega students with presents: 22 kilos worth of French books and jewellery to take home! A well-earned harvest for the crew, congratulations to all of them and a heart-felt “thank you” to the Sydney Alliance Française!