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Winner - Best Experimental Film @ Lowestoft Film Festival
Beyond Desire is an experimental short about female desire, shame and betrayal. Drawing from a highly personal experience we follow a vulnerable young woman experiencing a breakdown via a collision of conflicting relationships and gender power struggles.
“The survival brain(as opposed to the social engagement's learning brain) is hyper-focused on perceived threats, thinks about things in hard-and fast black and white, and is often circular, obsessive, and panic driven. We are very fearful about making mistakes. We thrash around, break down, or shut down when we fail. We pass that vagal response as an energy to those around us in social interactions, and others experiencing our social behaviour response then mirror this activated state back to us, keeping us stuck in a stress-response and leading us along a path of emotional addiction.
When trauma is not properly addressed it is left to drive our narratives and shape our autonomic responses. The brain learns to crave the feelings associated with the trauma response. This is the loop of emotional addiction. We now need to seek out the same kind of emotional hit again and again. Even if an emotion makes us stressed or sad, it often feels familiar and safe because it provides the same type of release that we experienced as children.”
Using physicality, haunting sound design and immersive camera work as vessels for intimate, multi-layered and unerringly contemporary story telling. Our lead finds herself on a repeating loop, the end is the start as she oscillates between what was and what is. Is she unable to escape her trauma and her psychological suffocation or patterning? The movement echoes the work of Pina Bausch, and in doing so draws links to the expression of the feminist landscape of emotions and gender conflicts that we continue to work through.
Winner - Best Experimental Film @ Lowestoft Film Festival
Beyond Desire is an experimental short about female desire, shame and betrayal. Drawing from a highly personal experience we follow a vulnerable young woman experiencing a breakdown via a collision of conflicting relationships and gender power struggles.
“The survival brain(as opposed to the social engagement's learning brain) is hyper-focused on perceived threats, thinks about things in hard-and fast black and white, and is often circular, obsessive, and panic driven. We are very fearful about making mistakes. We thrash around, break down, or shut down when we fail. We pass that vagal response as an energy to those around us in social interactions, and others experiencing our social behaviour response then mirror this activated state back to us, keeping us stuck in a stress-response and leading us along a path of emotional addiction.
When trauma is not properly addressed it is left to drive our narratives and shape our autonomic responses. The brain learns to crave the feelings associated with the trauma response. This is the loop of emotional addiction. We now need to seek out the same kind of emotional hit again and again. Even if an emotion makes us stressed or sad, it often feels familiar and safe because it provides the same type of release that we experienced as children.”
Using physicality, haunting sound design and immersive camera work as vessels for intimate, multi-layered and unerringly contemporary story telling. Our lead finds herself on a repeating loop, the end is the start as she oscillates between what was and what is. Is she unable to escape her trauma and her psychological suffocation or patterning? The movement echoes the work of Pina Bausch, and in doing so draws links to the expression of the feminist landscape of emotions and gender conflicts that we continue to work through.
The piece is choreographed by the brilliant Katya Bourvis, who recently won awards for her film MYRRHA. The score is by the enigmatic Alex Stolze. Cinematography is by the acclaimed Oscar Oldershaw.
CREDITS:
Director : Vasilisa Forbes
DOP: Oscar Oldershaw
Choreographer: Katya Bourvis
Grade: Dominic Phipps
Score: Alex Stolze
Sound Design: Joseph Campbell & Andrej Bako
Steadicam: Aadhar Gupta
AC: Rob Hayward
Lighting: Edward Heredia
MUA: Daisy Oldershaw
BTS Stills: Martin Perry
Grade: Dominic Phipps
Cast:
Patricia Langa
Nick Tredea
Sirena Simon
Harry Alexander
Graphics: Sam Norris
CREDITS:
Director : Vasilisa Forbes
DOP: Oscar Oldershaw
Choreographer: Katya Bourvis
Grade: Dominic Phipps
Score: Alex Stolze
Sound Design: Joseph Campbell & Andrej Bako
Steadicam: Aadhar Gupta
AC: Rob Hayward
Lighting: Edward Heredia
MUA: Daisy Oldershaw
BTS Stills: Martin Perry
Grade: Dominic Phipps
Cast:
Patricia Langa
Nick Tredea
Sirena Simon
Harry Alexander
Graphics: Sam Norris
