Isaac Knights-Washbourn
Writer-director
New Zealand & Scotland, UK
Isaac Knights-Washbourn is an Aotearoa/New Zealand Filmmaker based in Scotland. His film, MONEY HONEY, premiered at the 70th Berlinale. It won the inaugural Wellington UNESCO City of Film Award for Best Film at the New Zealand International Film Festival and the Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand Award for Best Director at Show Me Shorts International Film Festival. His documentary, THE TWO TALES, had its premiere at Encounters Film Festival.
He was chosen to take part in LIM | Less is More Scottish Pre-Writing Program in 2020 and in LIM | Less is More 2022 main programme. Awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, Isaac graduated in 2021 with an MA in Screenwriting at the Kino Eyes Masters Program based between Edinburgh, Lisbon and Tallinn.
In 2022, he is completing his first feature documentary, THORNTREE, which was filmed in Scotland. His latest film, MOTHER’S MILK was released in 2022.
Project
Small Treasures
Anthony McGowen, a merchant sailor, arrives at the Port of Leith in Edinburgh. The police are ready and waiting to seize his ship on suspicion of drug smuggling. Dragged onto land and beaten by police, Anthony is let go only to find himself stuck in a place he once called home. Instead of leaving with his crew on a different vessel, Anthony chooses to stay behind because of a valuable bag of treasure, hidden inside the walls of the seized ship. Anthony returns to his former home where he finds his estranged wife, Sandra, and their 14-year-old daughter, Olivia. He begs them to let him stay… just until he gets back on his feet. Forced to hang around until he has access to his bag of hidden treasure, Anthony is confronted by the damage his absence has caused in his daughter’s life. He makes fantastic promises to try to win Olivia’s trust back but with a broken nose, no job and his treasure just out of reach, Anthony must lie, cheat and steal to not let down his daughter again.
