This 19-Year-Old Aussie Filmmaker is Making Her Debut at an International Film Festival

The best we could manage as teenagers was watching movies, not making them.

Since Sarah Legg was barely 10 years old, she's been making movies. 

The "terribly hilarious kind" she calls them—the kind of short films made entirely in your living room with your brother and edited on iMovie. 

Since then, she's known she wanted to be involved in the world of visual storytelling and now, at just 19 years old, she's travelling the globe as a writer, director and producer. 

We chatted to Sarah about her filmmaking journey as she prepares to unveil her debut feature film, Cherubhead, at the upcoming Revelation Perth International Film Festival in July.

From one path to another. 

Following her first dream of becoming an actor, Sarah studied ATAR Media, got a fair bit of formal acting training and appeared in a few theatre shows at WA's John Curtin College of the Arts, where she went to high school. 

"The thing I had always dreamed of as a kid being was an actor, but I was such a control freak that I naturally took the directing role, and realised I was better at helping actors than being an actor myself," she said.

Photo: Supplied.

Cue a change in direction to becoming the one telling the story.

"[Film] is the most entertaining and immersive way to learn, and I think this really inspired my love and passion for filmmaking as work. It was less of a yearning and more of an instinct," she said.

"I have never formally studied film... Something I realised early on thanks to watching interviews on YouTube of Scorsese, Tarantino and the like, is that film, like all art, is a craft.

"And like all crafts and apprenticeships, you don’t sit in a room all day and magically learn how to do what you do—what matters is you learn by doing."

Ellah Chapman, Nicola Kinnane, Andrew Lim, Angelina Curtis, Sarah Legg and Daniel Prohaska. Photo: Supplied.

Cherubhead. 

After many years of experimenting and being involved in making movie creations whichever way she could, Sarah set out to write, produce and direct her first feature film, Cherubhead.

Based on Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, she describes the film as a "text about power—who has power, who can take that power away and, most importantly, who deserves power".

"Niccolò Machiavelli had some very insightful ideas on power. He is seen as both an advocate for fascism and democracy, which I find completely fascinating because, at the end of the day, what we realise in his text is that power comes down to people. Cherubhead takes these ideas and roles of power and places them in an interpersonal context," she said.

Matt Legg, Ellah Chapman, Summer Tyler and Angelina Curtis. Photo: Supplied.

"The energy we had on the set was so exciting and freeing that, despite the long hours, I loved every moment... And I’m really grateful I decided to produce [the film] myself because, from a learning perspective, it gave me an incredible insight to the logistics and chaotic reality of filmmaking."

And as for how she feels about the film being screened at Perth's Revelation International Film Festival?

"We are very warmed and excited to be a part of [it] and for their support in the local indie scene. During high school I went to their free Q&A panels as a way to learn more about film and meet more people," she said.

Aspirations for the future.

As we speak, Sarah is on her way to Amsterdam for the Septimus Awards alongside the star of Cherubhead, Angelina Curtis. 

And that's not even close to all she has in the works already for her career.

"This September we have a fantastic cast and crew starting production on a film called Butterscotch, a 20-minute or so featurette on love and relationships," she said.

"As for 2023, there are two feature film scripts currently in pre-production and I am lucky enough to have started collaborating on a mini-series."

This is certainly not the last you'll hear of Sarah Legg, so remember the name. 

The 2022 Revelation Perth International Film Festival will take place at Leederville's Luna Cinemas from 7-17 July. Check out more about it here. 

Header Image: Supplied.