She talks to wolves...

Remember this?

Thanks to all who poured love and support into this project via Kickstarter, Lisa Stock and her crew were able to film the Titania prequel at Sleeping Giant State Park in Connecticut. You can view the trailer on Vimeo now, or see it embedded below:

Titania Prequel Trailer from Lisa Stock on Vimeo.

Priscilla Hernandez's scoring is spine-tingling. The natural setting is breathtaking. The acting and dialogue look entrancing - and, oh, the moment when Titania falls in the forest, a splash of heartbeat-red against the darkened undergrowth. Her startled gasp a stab of loss.

I can't wait to see this short film. It's debut was at the 3 Wishes Faery Fest in Cornwall, and it will see its first US screenings in July.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.

Some of you may remember that, a month or so ago, I wrote a short review of Lisa Stock's film, Brother and Sister. To recap: Lisa Stock is the creative force behind InByTheEye Films, an independent film house producing mythically resonant short films. In Brother and Sister, Lisa adapted a poem by Terri Windling into a haunting visual narrative. (You don't have to take my word for it: watch it here.)

In those twelve minutes, I became a believer in Lisa's artistic vision. This woman is going to make films that I yearn with all my heart to see. Her current project (The Medisaga Trilogy) is a low-budget spinning of the Armless Maiden tale through the figure of Titania. Let me share a tidbit with you from her website concerning the first installment in the trilogy, Titania:

"Not long after the birth of her child, Titania entered a forbidden corner of a dark forest, and was viciously attacked by a flock of harpies. During the brutal assault her wings were violently torn from her body - her distinctiveness as a faery queen robbed. From that moment, Titania was confined to the grounds of her estate by an edict of the court. She became trapped inside her delusions, living in fear of being hunted down and slain by the harpies that attacked her the first time. When her infant son disappears (believed to be taken by his father, Oberon) she has no choice but to enter the dark forest again, and face her greatest fear to save her child."

Now that contains the essence of fairy tales: staggering loss, the dark Wood, courage in the face of oppressive forces, and all tangled with fantastic elements. Plus, she's weaving old school fairy tales with Shakespeare's Titania (and other characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream), along with figures from Greek mythology. It's really enough to make a girl swoon, and think favorable comparisons to Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.

I need to see this realized. If you feel even a smidgeon the same, you're being given a brilliant opportunity: Titania is up for crowdfunding.

Between investors and the 3 Wishes Fairy Fest in Cornwall, England, Lisa has a timetable on which to produce a short prequel to the planned feature of Titania. The prequel will stand on its own, being sent out to international film fests, and will also serve as the proposal to secure funding for Titania itself. InByTheEye Films needs to secure the necessary funds by May 20th in order to produce the film and debut it at the 3 Wishes Fairy Fest in June.

There's a page here on Kickstarter, with donation levels starting at just $5. Each donation level comes with an incentive as well, from behind-the-scenes looks to an acknolwedgment in the film's credis to signed PDF copies of the script and more.

They've managed to make a third of their goal already, with 35 days remaining to raise the rest. Please contribute today! Remember, any amount will help: as Lisa said in her Livejournal entry, your $5 could become "the threads we'll string between the trees to represent the Fate's 'Threads of Life'."

If you want to support this woman's amazing work, but can't afford to make a donation - please consider spreading the word! And then continue following Titania's development via Facebook, Twitter, or Lisa's Livejournal at conteurlisa .


A note on Kickstarter: Your donation will not be taken unless the project meets its intended goal. So unless InByTheEye attains $10,000 in pledged donations by May 20th, no funds will actually be drawn from your account at that time.

This entry was originally posted at Livejournal. You can comment here or there.