Here be dragons

Alastair Newton Brown’s Here Be Dragons, a powerful indictment of the eye for an eye mentality of war, is coming to the screen at Dendy Newtown in Sydney, with a portion of proceeds going to the charitable Veterans Film Festival and its film industry careers program, Screen Warriors.

A taut procedural, Here Be Dragons begins with the conclusion of The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), as David Locke (Nathan Clark Sapsford), a former British soldier turned UN war crimes investigator, faces the prospect of an early retirement. But David is approached by a ghost from his past: a victim of the Yugoslav wars named Emir Ibrahimovic (Svetislav “Bule” Goncic).

Emir believes he’s located the notorious and previously presumed dead paramilitary commander Ivan Novak (Slobodan Beštic), living in plain sight in Belgrade, Serbia. Despite the disapproval of his superiors, David goes to Belgrade on a solo mission funded by Emir, in order to hunt, capture, and bring to justice the man who has caused so much pain in the world. As David ingratiates himself with Novak’s estranged wife and son, he starts to question the morality of his mission and the intentions of his sponsor.

In this gripping and stylish procedural drama shot in Serbia and post-produced in Sydney, Australian writer/director Alastair Newton Brown perfectly captures the concept of human compassion, and the great lengths one will take to achieve true justice, brilliant supported by an enigmatic, star-making performance by Australian actor Nathan Clark Sapsford as David Locke.

Here Be Dragons will screen on Monday 11 December 2023 at Dendy Newtown, presented by the Veterans Film Festival [VFF] and the Inner West Film Fest, in support of VFF’s film exhibitions and Screen Warriors training program. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Alastair Newton Brown, Nathan Clark Sapsford and Veterans Film Festival’s Warwick Young.