Midlands Spotlight on Lepidopterist from Sophie Black
“But the best thing to come out of the unexpected free time was that it gave my crew and I chance to finally finish our latest film, Lepidopterist”, explains Sophie. “The film was originally made as part of the 2019 Sci-Fi-London 48hr Film Challenge (a competition I’ve always wanted to enter); back then, it was shot and edited in just under two days and released under the competition-given name of FIFTY/FIFTY. However, everyone involved in the film loved it even more than we expected to, and we knew how much better it could be if we took the time to tease out the tension in the edit, and to enhance the film’s (mostly practical) effects”.
“The finished film is essentially the film we wanted to make in the first place; it feels like it has much more of a build to the climactic scenes, and there’s some slower moments to let the audience get to know and care about the- characters better. This is the version of the film we want to show at festivals, and – thanks to a small funding campaign we ran earlier this year – we started submitting it straight away”.
But Sophie acknowledges that things didn’t quite go to plan. “The pandemic may have given us time to finish the film, but it also took all the cinemas away. Merely days after we started submitting the film to festivals, I received emails to say that the festivals had been postponed, cancelled, or weren’t open to entries at all this year”.
“Lepidopterist is a super-low-budget project. As a result, it’s only ever had a fool’s hope at festivals, particularly the big-name ones. But if there’s less festivals open to submissions than ever before, our chances grow slimmer by the day – which is a bit soul-crushing, after all our hard work.
This isn’t just an issue for Lepidopterist. Filmmakers rely on festivals to promote their work and gain important accreditations on their CVs (which helps them to enter worthy, career-boosting programmes such as Berlinale Talents and BAFTA Crew). Above all that, we want to show our work to audiences. It’s our life blood, the thing that gets us out of bed in the morning. If a film doesn’t have an audience, it’s basically an object sitting on a shelf, unused and underappreciated. The future looks a little bleak right now”.
Sophie talks about alternative routes via online screenings, yet this is not ideal for many filmmakers. “I appreciate the fact that platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and other streaming services help indie films to reach new audiences – and of course, I want people to feel safe in the environment where they watch my films. But here’s the thing: my team and I designed Lepidopterist to be shown on a big screen. We spent hours focussing in on every tiny visual detail, making sure it was as polished as possible, with the score mixed beautifully, so that the film could be blown up to a large size and still look and sound fantastic”
But Sophie and her company Triskelle pictures still believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. “If Lepidopterist can be shown to audiences in 2021, then I actually believe it to be the perfect film for the times we live in today. It may have sci-fi undertones, but it’s a film about hope, about man’s relationship with nature, and about love beyond physical appearances – all of which were key themes in 2020. Above all, due to the film’s insectoid imagery, it’s also a film about transformation, rebirth and escape, which are things I wish for everyone as we enter this brave new year”.
She sums up by saying, “The pandemic has taught me the importance of taking time out to focus on my personal projects, even if I just give them a few hours in the evenings or at weekends. I miss being on set with my Triskelle ‘film family’ more than almost anything else, and I want to be ready to get back there as soon as I possibly can”.
Lepidopterist stars Charlie Clarke, Sarah Lamesch and Chris Millross and was co-written by Sophie Black and Tommy Draper
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