Bermudian filmmaker Lucinda Spurling is in the middle of another big screen masterpiece, this time historical.

Miss Spurling recently let an audience preview the first 20 minutes of her documentary, 'The Lion & The Mouse'.

The Lion and the Mouse is the epic tale of how Bermuda has helped the United States throughout its history.

Miss Spurling said the preview went very well.

"I think sometimes we forget about our own history," she said. " The preview has really, really helped fundraising both for sponsors to see what they have supported starting to come together and for potential sponsors to understand the project better."

St. George's Historical Society and the St. George's Foundation have all been very accomodating!~ I think our challenges will be logistics with all the actors, locations and props, and also sound recording as everyone knows there isn't a quiet place in Bermuda!!!! I am sure it will be a hard sell to Americans, but that is also the fun of it..

The film will debut in Bermuda in 2009. It is meant to commemorate Bermuda's 400th anniversary of the wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609.

The title 'The Lion & The Mouse' comes from the fable by the same name. In this children's story a little mouse is captured by a hungry lion. He begs the lion to let him go, promising to help him one day. The lion laughs disbelievingly, but lets him go. Later, the lion is caught in a net and the mouse nibbles him free. The moral is supposed to be little people can help big people; or possibly don't eat your neighbours, because you might need them later.

In Miss Spurling's documentary, Bermuda is the little mouse, and The United States of America is the Lion. This is slightly problematic as the lion is usually the symbol for Britain. Nevertheless, the title is clever.

"I chose this section of history, because I have always been interested," Miss Spurling said. "My father is Bermudian and my mother is American.

"I grew up in St. George's and I found the history of how St. George's relates to the United States - Blockade Running, and the Gun Powder Plot, for example, quite fascinating. That sort of thing was alive for me as a child in the museums."

The Lion & The Mouse promises to be made with all the same high professionalism seen in Miss Spurling's previous films, Rare Bird (2006), and St. David's An Island Near Bermuda (2004).

There is a lot of talk in the movie, but it is broken up by fascinating scenes from reenactments. In a civil war scene cannons boom, and soldiers march against a setting sun. The reenactments really do help to move the movie along.

Miss Spurling has not actually finished filming all of the reenactments. She will be filming in St. George's between June 14 and 27.

"Look out for costumed actors walking around St. George's," she said. "I am amazed at the talent in Bermuda. We have a cast of thirty actors. Many are professionally trained."

Liz Campbell will be doing the costuming. Shooting will take place at Ferry Reach, Tucker House, Globe Hotel, Mitchell House, St. Peters Church, Verdmont, Perot Post Office, and even the House of Assembly, among other places.

The film includes commentary from a variety of experts from the United States and Bermuda including Mike Jarvis, a historian at the University of Rochester, William Zuill Sr., Walton Brown and many others. It covers the full range of Bermuda's history from the wreck of the Sea Venture in 1609, to the Civil War to the Second World War.

"The history of Bermuda is dress rehearsals for the apocalypse," said pollster and social commentator Walton Brown.

Although the movie will uplift many Bermudians, it might prove a hard sell to Americans.

The fabled mouse probably loves recounting the story of how he helped the lion, but does the lion care for the story all that much?

But Miss Spurling said she was up to the challenge.

"That's the fun of it," she said.

At any rate if the lions don't eat up the movie, at least the mice will enjoy a nibble.

In a previous interview Miss Spurling admitted that the film had proven a harder sell than her previous films.

"In terms of funding this film has proven harder to market, possibly because there is so much stuff going on for 2009," she said.

Miss Spurling's other two films are still playing locally, and Rare Bird continues to play in international film festivals and outreach organisations as far a field as New Zealand and eight cities in India. Rare Bird also picked up several awards in US festivals and will be on US TV later this year.

For more information, contact Miss Spurling at afflarefilms@mac.com .