Knights & Relationships Crowdfunding Campaign Launched

Artist Sam Tung is adapting a comic by Oscar Westberg into a short film.

My good friend Sam Tung is running a Seed & Spark campaign (live now!) to fund production of his short film, Knights & Relationships. Sam adapted comic creator and illustrator Oscar Westberg’s intimate, emotionally truthful short comic, A Chance Encounter, about knights with a former relationship that meet again by chance. I love the comic and what it achieves in its short length, open to interpretation with its brief allusions to a past shared history between its characters.

Sam is a professional storyboard artist, having most recently worked on Marvel’s X-Men ‘97, A24/Apple TV+’s upcoming Sunny (July 10), and feature film Twisters, in theaters July 19. He’s got a deep love for knights and fantasy, and I’m excited to see how Sam translates Oscar Westberg’s story to the screen.

*Character concept art by production designer Zac Roane*

Sam has picked accomplished actors and stunt performers Krystle Martin and Brandin Elmore to play the knights and ex-lovers in the film. Krystle recently starred in successful Christmas horror film The Mean One. Coincidentally, Krystle and Brandin are now engaged, and are excited to share scenes together.

You can pledge to the Seed & Spark campaign here.

I interviewed Sam, Oscar, and Krystle to get more insight into the film and the original work. Their answers are below, edited for length and clarity.

Sam Tung, Writer/Director

The Geekly Grind (GG): What are the roots of your love for knights and medieval fantasy?

Sam Tung (ST): Growing up, I was actually much more into sci-fi than fantasy! A friend lent me the first Game of Thrones novel, and I was hooked. That lead me to Dunk & Egg (the fantastic A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms). Since then I've dug into a lot more fantasy and classical chivalric romance.

GG: What are some of your favorite works in the genre?

ST: I adore (and would love to adapt!) Darrell Schweitzer's dark fantasy novel We Are All Legends. I read The Song of Roland and Gene Wolfe's The Knight and loved them. The Once And Future King is a classic for a reason. All of these stories, in addition to fantastic action-adventure, get at the complexities of being a knight: simultaneously a warrior and a noble, sworn to honor and duty but also pulled at by human obligations and desires.

GG: How did you discover Oscar Westberg’s work?

ST: I suspect through Twitter, and maybe through his comic A Chance Encounter (the basis of Knights & Relationships) which went viral when he posted it a couple of years ago!

GG: What drew you to adapting this specific story?

ST: It's stuck in my brain ever since I read it. It's got the flashy stuff I love, like cool knights and a larger implied medieval fantasy world, but is really about such a small, intimate, personal moment. I'm not a knight, and my audience members probably aren't either. But we've all had an uncomfortable encounter with an ex, where we feel like we're wearing armor. Your guard is up, you're ready to fight, but diplomacy is an option, too.

GG: Are you drawing inspiration from any particular films or anything else for your visual/stylistic approach?

ST: I of course adore David Lowery's The Green Knight. Similarly, Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal focuses on the emotional and psychological aspects of knighthood more than the physical or martial. Visually, I'm wild about FromSoftware's Dark Souls and Elden Ring games -- a knight in armor is great, but a knight in a hooded cloak over the armor is even better! I also listened to a lot of the dialogue in Dark Souls -- the knights won't speak in true medieval English, but there's something about the sentence structure and word choice in those games that sounds proud and epic.

Oscar Westberg, Creator

GG: What drew you to knights and medieval settings as subjects?

Oscar Westberg (OW): I’ve always loved fantasy video games - Tales of Symphonia, Dragon Age and Skyrim being some of my absolute favourites. My interest in drawing knights grew over time. Medieval style armor is just so cool visually, and for me as an artist it has both limitations and possibilities. That makes drawing armor both a rewarding and challenging experience!

GG: Who are some of your biggest inspirations as an artist and writer, or what works?

OW: I really enjoy honest stories that aren’t trying to be more than they are. I’ve recently read and enjoyed books by Werner Herzog, Tove Jansson and Ursula Le Guin. As for art I’m a sucker for good inking! I have a lot of respect for Kamome Shirahama, Gabriel Rodríguez, Hermann Huppen and Linnea Sterte.

*Knights and Relationships, page 1, by Oscar Westberg.*

GG: Describe Knights and Relationships. What inspired the story?

OW: To me, the story is about how everyone and their relationships change over time and what it means to care for someone but not necessarily wanting to be with them. This story came to me as I was thinking about changes I’ve done in my life and trying to better understand my divorced parents.

GG: What are you working on right now?

OW: I’m currently working on my next book called The Cult of Dreams, which is an illustrated book about a grand fantasy adventure in the style of an adventurer’s journal. The Kickstarter is currently live until Tuesday 30th of April. When the book is finished I’ll keep doing freelance work and making new comics!

Krystle Martin, Actor

GG: Tell us a little bit about your character in the upcoming film, and about how you will approach playing her.

Krystle Martin (KM): Sir Britomart is a strong, driven, idealistic woman living her dream, but also feeling a certain weariness lately. The knight’s path brings glory, and also sacrifice. Fiercely independent, accustomed to taking down brigands, ogres, and dragons on her own, she rarely lets her guard down, except that one time. That one time she let someone in. But that just brought disaster and dented armor. She’s better off on her own anyway… Right? Right.

GG: What about Knights & Relationships do you find most interesting or exciting?

KM: Like most people, I’m a fan of Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones and the genre in general, but those productions are always shot in New Zealand or the UK and unless you’re a name actor, Americans aren’t invited to the party. So I was ecstatic to read Sam’s script, see Oscar’s comic and find that we get to play in this wondrous realm, wear armor, and wield magic. And with the added challenge of performing through a helmet and adopting an accent? All with amazing people?! Where do I sign?!!

GG: How has your experience as a stunt performer shaped you as an actor?

KM: Becoming a stunt performer has made me more comfortable in my own skin. I started my career as an actor and had a lot of catching up to do accruing physical skills to be competitive with my peers. I’ve learned to approach life with a beginner’s mindset, and trust opportunities will find me as long as I am doing my best to be my best. Stunts, and recently becoming a scuba instructor and competing in the Highland Games, were all unexpected turns, but have become so integral to my journey. Every production, every person I meet offers an opportunity to learn, grow, and expand my horizons.

GG: What lessons have you learned from either discipline that you apply to the other?

KM: I’ve come to appreciate the physicality of the character more than ever. Ask any physical therapist, a human’s entire history is etched in their movement. And often moving the way the character would move, puts me in the headspace and emotion of that character.

Knights & Relationships is live on Seed & Spark now! I’ll be pledging to support this fantastic work by an amazing artist.