INDEPENDENT PROJECT
Best Independent Project (2024)
INDEPENDENT PROJECT (Best Independent Project)
JPG
MP4
59s
Black Samphire
Alexander Vanegas Sus
Shortlist
| Title: | Black Samphire |
|---|---|
| Director: | Alexander Vanegas Sus |
| Production Company: | Silicon Gothic Films |
| Instagram Tag: | @blacksamphire @alexander.v_super8 @cathywippell @_joseph_archer_ @rpriseman |
| How does this production embrace sustainability?: | 'Black Samphire' is a dark folk horror that creates a tangible monster out of water pollution. At it's core, it explores how rivers and water sources in the UK and around the world are being contaminated by privatised water companies. On the 31st of July, 2023, as we were beginning pre-production, an Unearthed investigation found that ‘over 300,000 hours of sewage spills hit England and Wales most protected habitats’ in 2022. On the 5th of August 2023, as we were well into pre-production, fifty seven triathletes were hospitalised after partaking in the Sunderland triathlon championship due to swimming in polluted water. Now, as we near completion of the film and literally twenty four hours before I wrote this paragraph, the UK’s ‘urgent’ plan to tackle the sewage pollution crisis has been delayed by four months, with no date of publication in sight(Source: The Guardian). In other words, the water pollution crisis in the UK has been present throughout the whole process of this film. What’s more, it won’t go away anytime soon, unless we take urgent action. The ever increasingly relevant issue of water pollution on the British Isles has shaped ‘Black Samphire’ from start to finish, and it’s something we know will only become more pressing as we start work on the feature film (as the short is a proof of concept). A mini doc on the sustainability-driven message and practices of the film can be found here: https://youtu.be/Z4GWBWQit5M |
| Synopsis: | When Mari, an overworked journalist and her girlfriend, Isla, take a weekend away in West Sussex, they stumble across a strand of strange samphire, contaminated by the water pollution in the area. With Isla developing an obsessive addiction to the poisonous plant, Mari is catapulted into a super-natural confrontation against her lifelong partner, in which she must face the consequences of ignoring the signs. |
