A Raw Icelandic "Beast" with Much Beauty

"Once upon a time, there was a hero, although she didn't know it yet. Her name was Bell. And she was destined to confront a Beast..."

There's a new film in the making which promises a very different take on Beauty and the Beast, journeying back to the fairy tale's roots and delving into the Mythic, in a way we haven't yet seen. It's titled, simply, Beast, but the movie promises to be anything but simple.

The Icelandic setting and all-Icelandic cast, along with "The Mountain", (aka Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) from HBO's Game Of Thrones, ratchet the epic factor up more than a few notches, as does the edginess of the Viking-esque time period of 'the year 800'. 

This is Bell is on a feminine hero's journey, one which would give Theseus a run for his money, so it's no coincidence that the mythic story of one of Theseus' great challenges, defeating the Minotaur at the center of the labyrinth, was a foundation for this movie.

Director Max Gold says:

"When Beast is released, fans can expect to see a darker, Icelandic take on the fairy tale that they’ve come to know and love--told from a feminine perspective.  

"A masculine hero’s journey usually involves the hero leaving home then conquering and/or killing his way through a series of obstacles. But a feminine hero’s journey happens in a different style. For example, Scheherazade tells stories to save her own life. Persephone empathizes with her captor in the underworld to earn some time above ground. The Theseus/Minotaur myth (lots of similarities to Beast) is actually also a more feminine version of the hero’s journey even though Theseus is male. For example, Theseus leverages his enemy’s size and strength to his own advantage. Or when facing Medusa, Theseus literally “reflects” in his shield to find her whereabouts. These are feminine means, which makes sense because Theseus’s father is Poseidon, god of the sea.  

"There’s this new buzz phrase, “strong female protagonist.” Most of the time “strong” just means “put a weapon in the female protagonist’s hand.” That does not make a strong female protagonist, it just makes a female protagonist who carries a weapon. In Beast, the story is told from Bell’s perspective and she uses her own courage and cunning to find her way. She is a deeply flawed character but is also willful. You will find out whether her strong will is enough when she comes face to face with her darker side. And yes, at some point she does also wield a badass sword!"

Apart from showcasing a selection of beautiful visuals here, the best way I could think to introduce you to the film is via a couple of their development films. First "Princess" Bell then Bell the Hero. If you don't have time to watch any of the videos, I still strongly suggest you take a look at the last 30 seconds or so of Bell the Hero (at the 1min35sec mark). It's amazing.Take a look:

While the film is definitely a "darker take" on the Beauty and the Beast tale, it's clear from corresponding with Max Gold, and getting peeks behind the scenes here and there, that every scene, including the bloodier ones, are all there with a purpose.

"Violence is a necessary part of a fairy tale; it always points to the death of potential consciousness that befalls those who don't pay attention. Our Beast is a hoard of energy that saps the land and causes the famine. Without this as an antagonist, the stakes of Bell's journey would be inauthentic.

“Bell’s psychological journey inward is as much a focus as her harrowing quest through the Icelandic wilderness. Bell is fleeing a brutal past; she is contending with a lot of inner demons. She is a deeply flawed character and we don’t shy away from putting those flaws up on screen, but she is also extremely willful. Her will and courage ultimately carry her through.”

From references of The Poetic Edda and Icelandic Sagas, along with nods to Jung and David L. Hart's "The Water of Life: Spiritual Renewal in the Fairy Tale" and labyrinthian metaphors, both with regard to the inner psyche and the forbidding Icelandic wildlands, this Beauty and the Beast retelling has some serious foundation to build it's story on. The attention to storytelling detail is also clear in every frame with both beautiful photography and specific framing that tells a story of its own (a quick look at the embedded videos will have you amazed that such an icy wasteland can be so very stunning!). 

When you see this it's easy to recognize how important the awareness of the Land is in the movie as well. A sense of story grows out of it, just like it does for the Icelandic people, so it made sense when I learned that Max Gold had more than a passing appreciation for it as well.

"One of the patterns I began to notice in Icelandic folklore was that everything ties back to the land. The evil wizards who turn the sand black, or the elves who come from the lava rocks--all of them emerge from and return to the landscape. They are land spirits, or for the more objective they are anthropomorphisms. Take a drive through Westfjörds and when you come back tell me that you didn’t see faces in the rock staring back at you. There is a deep respect for and connection with the land in Icelandic cultural heritage, something akin to that of the original Americans before the Europeans unfortunately wiped them out.  

"Casting the film entirely Icelandic maintains an integrity of place that bleeds through the screen. Rather than rely on special effects, my visual team emphasizes the stunning landscape to catapult the audience head-on into this magic world. 

"My friend Helga introduced me to the Icelandic landscape painter called Kjarval. Kjarval was responsible for re-introducing the landscape to the Icelandic people by way of his paintings. 
Between Kjarval’s paintings and the folklore, the unique and rustic world inhabited by Beast and Bell comes to life. All of that said: not once did we “use” the landscape. Everyone on my team had a running joke: “the landscape used us.” My friend Max was carrying a 4x4 floppy up a hill and he actually blew away in the wind. Henry had to grab him and pull him back down!" 

This video below is slightly longer at over 3 minutes but you get to see a lot of that 'mythic foundation building' I keep referencing. 

Now that you know the context of the film and have seen an exploration of visuals and scenes, I'd like to add the trailer for you to view too. Just be warned: the trailer begins with some violence, which can be a shock if it's the first thing you're seeing. If any form of violence or gore bothers you, just don't watch the first 11 seconds. The rest is worth watching and at times breathtakingly stunning, I promise. (I do recommend you don't have kids around though - this is not for children.):

I've spent quite a bit of time looking into Beast and am more and more impressed the more I learn. The only trouble is that there isn't a guarantee it will be finished... yet. Despite the formidable talent and crew they have on board, this film is still an Indie project and is relying on crowd funding and support to get the picture done.

I'm not the only one who believes this film promises and excellent standard though. Beast was recently named a Kickstarter "Staff Pick" and they're more than half way to their goal. I'm sort of astonished that the monetary goal is so low, considering how high they have the bar set for production but they've already proven they can do a lot with a little. I'd dearly love to see this film complete and we've got just one week to help them make this possible.

This project will only be funded if at least $20,000 is pledged by Tue, Apr 7 2015 1:36 PM PDT. (As of this posting just over $13,000 has been pledged - only $7,000 to go!)

Being a Kickstarter, there are some really great incentives and rewards for helping out with donations. You can donate as little as a dollar or a few dollars and get some extra promotion yourself, and starting at the $30 mark you can receive a high res copy of the film yourself (isn't that close to what you'd pay for a Blu-ray these days anyway?)

The approach to this film is the sort of storytelling we want to see - exploring tales we love in a new ways with intelligence, reverence and excellence. Please consider joining me in supporting Beast. Even a small amount can make a huge difference.


BEAST: A DARKER RE-IMAGINING OF “BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.”
SET ENTIRELY IN ICELAND.
Blind Hummingbird Productions
Beast stars Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, aka THE MOUNTAIN from HBO’s Game of
Thrones alongside a completely Icelandic cast.
Bell is played by newcomer Berta Andrea and Beast is played by Icelandic model Ingi
Hrafn. The film is shot by Cannes-showcased cinematographer, Ed Wu. Production
Designer: Haisu Wang (Steven Spielberg’s THE PACIFIC) Costume Designer: Ella
Reynis (GAME OF THRONES.)
Beast is written and directed by Max Gold, whose previous credits include the Golden
Globe-nominated Arbitrage (2012). Gold’s commercials, short films and video art
installations have received numerous accolades and international festival attention.
Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maxgold/beast-a-live-action-feature-
film-of-beauty-and-the
Trailer (official site): www.beast-iceland.com
Blind Hummingbird Productions: www.blindhummingbird.com
Twitter: @Beast_movie , @blindhummingbrd
Facebook: facebook.com/BEASTIceland , facebook.com/blindhummingbird

Additional sources: HERE, HERE, & the official website HERE

"The Tale of the Three Brothers" Live Action Film (Made with Rowling & WB's Blessing)

Do you remember the Harry Potter fairy tale , "The Three Brothers" from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", which was animated to wonderful effect in the final movie?

There's going to be a live version.
And it's (essentially) an indie film.
Made by college students.
Who got the permission of J.K. Rowling AND Warner Bros to do it.
!

The Tale of the Three Brothers serves as a pivotal plot device in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the series’s final installment. In the Harry Potter world, the fable-style story is told to wizard children, but most adults believe it to be nothing more than a legend. Over the course of the final book, it becomes apparent that several parts of the story are true.

The film will screen in May at Husson University, which is also in Bangor (Maine). It’s not clear whether it will be made available online at a later date.

I am just going to stand and applaud them for their tenacity, audacity and sheer luck in making this happen. *applauds*

I'm not saying they didn't work hard or aren't talented because clearly this college filmmaking group are both. But that's only half the battle when you're working in Entertainment. The rest is who you know and luck of timing/the draw.

Lisa Stock of InBytheEye, who sought and was given permission by Neil Gaiman to stage his short story "Snow, Glass, Apples" had her own success with this bold approach too, but she will tell you: it didn't come without a LOT of hard work on the foundations first!

In this new case, because it's film, we are likely (we hope) to be the witnesses/recipients of their hard work but I wanted to take a post to acknowledge the fact that some students felt strongly enough about an olde-worlde-type fairy tale, to bring it to the screen in moodily shot live-action. Most Harry Potter fans would be focused on the (myriad) other aspects to create from and although the id most definitely nothing wrong with those leanings, particular fairy tales aren't usually the focused of the HP obsessed and I'm glad to see the deeper callings of fairy tale-type stories stirring the creative drive of tomorrow's filmmakers.

Here's the trailer:

And here's the animation from the Harry Potter film:

I love hearing about things like this. It warms my heart to know there are famous people out there who aren't threatened by anther creative team adapting material that originated with them and more, actively encourages and supports the sincere and talented efforts of deserving people.

Hopefully we have a lot to look forward to from the people involved with this project.

If I find news of an online release for the live action The Tale of the Three Brothers, I will, of course, share it with you.

Sources: HERE & HERE

Film: "The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga"

I've been hoping I'd find a way to see this film so I could post on it properly but I can't see that happening for a while yet so it's high time I let you all know about it, in case you get the chance to., especially since a trailer was uploaded just a few weeks ago.

Note: all artwork, animation and photography in this post is from the film, production blog or official website.

It definitely seems to me that witches of the fairy tale kind in general are having a come back and that includes Baba Yaga. Though this film was released in 2013, it's making the critic rounds right now and the response has been overwhelmingly thumbs up.

Independent filmmaker Jessica Oreck has a name you may have heard of if you're in film and indie film circles. She's the creator of that curious and very different entomological film "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo". While "Baba Yaga" is being touted as even more experimental due to use of mixed media using aspects of animation to blend two stories together, the familiarity of Baba Yaga and her stories might mean it's more accessible to people like us. All I've read about the film, themes, synopsis and treatment seems far more straight forward than "Beetle Queen" to me but then I'm someone who finds is quite comfortable with the mention of flying pestles and huts with chicken legs...

How's this for an intriguing introduction?

Deep in the forest, wedged in cracks in the bark and under the moss covered rocks, hide memories and myths. These subconscious tales, drawn from the natural world, inform the societies we build. Jessica Oreck's fantastical work combines animation, traditional storytelling and contemporary non-fiction filmmaking to recount the Slavic fable of the Witch Baba Yaga. Directed by Jessica Oreck.

I also love the summary/explanation at the official website, presented in lovely book form:

Variety just posted a really interesting and informative review of the film a couple of days ago, which was a nice surprise. Here are some excerpts:

Nature and civilization square off in Jessica Oreck’s poetic meditation-cum-documentary “The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga.” Alternating between two complementary narratives (fairy-tale and cultural-anthropological) in two languages (Russian and Polish) and two formats (animation and live-action), Oreck spins a mesmerizing web that appropriates a wealth of disparate Eastern European images — of mushrooms, farmers, falling trees and war-destroyed buildings — to illustrate its lyrical discourse.
The story Oreck tells is simple: Man, fearing nature’s wildness, builds walls against it and demonizes it in folklore. But there is another, far more violent force within man himself that, once unleashed, sends him fleeing to a wilderness that now affords sanctuary. 

...Oreck’s version of a well-known Slavic fairy tale replaces a wicked stepmother with hostile soldiers as the reason two children must venture into the woods. There they encounter Baba Yaga, a fearsome witch who flies around in a giant mortar and lives in a movable hut mounted on chicken feet. She demands near-impossible tasks of the sister and brother, threatening to eat them if they fail. But, aided by small representatives of nature — a talking mouse, cat and sparrow — the duo accomplish her bidding. Foiled, Baba Yaga must allow the children to leave, reluctantly giving them a magic comb; fleeing marauding soldiers, the boy throws the comb on the ground whereupon it transforms into an impenetrable thicket.   The siblings wander in the forest where they are reunited with their mother and all live happily ever after.
Oreck presents this fairy tale as a series of animation storyboard panels, rendered with 3D perspectives. Though these illustrations do not literally constitute animation — there is no frame-by-frame character movement linking one drawing to the next — the camera simulates storytelling by constantly roaming the panels, zooming in and out and slowly panning across surfaces.

The Polish monologue, borrowing freely from evocative poetry, musings and memoirs, encompasses a far less cohesive procession of live-action images.... 

You can read the whole review HERE.

The juxtaposition of the animation images (including those shown here) and the more documentarian-style live action scenes sounds like it would come across as very experimental, especially while watching, it seems the resulting feeling is a successful melding of the two mediums to tell a cyclic story of man vs nature and man vs man as well as nature vs society.


If so, that is exactly my impression of what it would be like to face Baba Yaga: terrifying, confusing, a personification of all things scary and fear for your life, only to realize later that she made more sense than the places and people you originally thought of as being safe because she is bigger than just a person and has a bigger purpose, whereas much of what you took for granted as being safe before, no longer is. Where you thought you were facing death in the forest, you learned to live. The world of man (and war) doesn't work like that at all - it's almost the opposite - you fight to live, only to be faced with death on many levels everywhere you go.


Clearly this is a film that is more at home in an Arthouse theater than a mainstream one (and not just because it's foreign) but then people who are drawn to fairy tales often have eclectic tastes so there's likely more than a handful of you who find this as intriguing as I do. The reviews are by-and-large people being happily surprised and drawn in more and more by the film as it goes along, when at the outset they expected to just 'survive' it for critical review purposes.

Here's the trailer, which shows the use of live action against tale-paced words. Though the animated images illustrating the fairy tale are missing, there's no doubt about the content.

Some additional recommended reviews and related articles:

• Unseen Films - Review
• Michelle J. Enemark Talks About doing the Animation For the Film
• Twitch Film: Baba Yaga... A Ravishing Meditation on Our Relationship With Nature - Review
• The Film's Production Blog
• "The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga" - Official Website

Special Presentation: Danishka Esterhazy's "The Red Hood"

While I try to point you toward a fairy tale film on Sundays on the FB & Twitter supplemental news feeds, today's short film is extra special and getting a full post.

I mentioned in a recent post about the new neorealist Hansel and Gretel film, H&G, that I would be showcasing more of Danishka Esterhazy's amazing work with fairy tales in film very soon.

Today I'm pleased to present The Red Hood.

I just LOVE this film! Ms. Esterhazy has kindly given me special permission to share it with you here on Once Upon A Blog, and I feel privileged to do. The whole short film is here but in only 9 (ish) minutes, we have a really stunning and memorable updating of a very familiar tale.

Ms. Esterhazy describes it as: "Set in the Canadian prairies during the Great Depression, The Red Hood is a dark re-telling of the classic fable Little Red Riding Hood, and a work of lyrical realism that deconstructs the tale’s underlying gender moral."

Take a look:
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Red Czarina's Neorealist "H&G" Feature Film Coming in Fall 2013

A girl and boy. Brother and sister. Living in poverty and neglect. Lost in the woods. They see a house, rush toward it… it is magical. Full of good food, soft sheets, love and care. But in this house, danger lurks. And all they have is each other.

The Brothers Grimm fairy tale Hansel and Gretel takes a modern neorealist twist in H&G.

What would cause a parent to abandon their child? Especially today? How would stranded children, left alone, behave?

These are the questions that prompted talented Canadian indie filmmaker, Danishka Esterhazy to write and create a "neorealist" film based on Hansel and Gretel, along with the impressive group of women filmmakers who make up Red Czarina. Take a look at the trailer for a taste of the result:

H&G Trailer #1 from Danishka Esterhazy on Vimeo.

In talking about how she began writing H&G Ms. Esterhazy says:

I have always been fascinated by fairy tales. Growing up, I was an avid reader and the world of fairy tales ignited my imagination. As an adult, my work has often been inspired by fairy tales. My short films The Snow Queen (2005) andThe Red Hood (2009), both inspired by traditional tales, are two of the film projects in which I take the most pride. After completing my first feature film, Black Field, which was based on a wholly original story, I found my imagination drawn back to the world of fable. The story that I returned to again and again was Hansel and Gretel. 

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