More news in from Frightfest who’ve just confirmed they will be proudly holding the world premiere of Broken Bird as their opening film for this years prestigious Pigeon Shrine section
For whatever reasons, Broken Bird managed to fly past us here at Moviehooker… until now! This one sounds right up our alley and we can’t wait to tell you more when the news is released. Check out the official Frightfest press release below.
“Monday 15th July, London, UK: Catalyst Studios is excited to announce that their gripping gothic horror BROKEN BIRD, which celebrates its World Premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, and opens this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, will be released in UK cinemas from 30th August 2024.
BROKEN BIRD marks the feature directorial debut of Joanne Mitchell, who for nearly 15 years has honed her craft as a horror storyteller. BROKEN BIRD is a feature film adaptation of her & Tracey Sheals’s 2018 award-winning short SYBIL, screenplay by Dominic Brunt.
This rich, disturbing tale steps into the life and mind of Sybil Chamberlain. Sybil is a quiet, creative soul. Her hobbies are taxidermy and poetry. She works in a funeral parlor with the deceased. She likes dead people. They understand her.
At just ten years old, she experienced trauma in a tragic accident which took away the family she adored. Now, an aching loneliness prevails in a void which she seeks to fill. But poetry and a vivid imagination provide an escape from the harsh realities of a lonely life.
Reality and reason are slipping away from Sybil and her ‘dark desires’ become more and more insatiable. Her fascination with the dead takes a dark and strange twist. And in a horrific climax of gothic proportions, she finds her own kind of happiness and contentment with the people she keeps as company – dead people.
Sybil is masterfully portrayed by Rebecca Calder (Kandahar/Memory) in a riveting nuanced performance in which she captures all of Sybil’s quirky, unsettling behavior. She is supported by an incredible cast featuring James Fleet (Four Weddings & a Funeral), Sacharissa Claxton (Avenue 5) and Jay Taylor (Misfits).”
BROKEN BIRD
- Production Company: Catalyst Studios
- Short Synopsis: Sybil works at an undertakers. It’s a lonely job, with few perks. So she takes solace where she can.
- Director: Joanne Mitchell
Written By: Dominic Brunt, Joanne Mitchell, Tracey Sheals - Cast: Rebecca Calder, James Fleet, Jay Taylor, Sacharissa Claxton
- Producers: Zoe Stewart, Mark Pennell, Holly Anderson Levow, Paul Kampf
- Cert: TBC
- Run Time: 96 Mins
About FrightFest
“Dubbed “the Woodstock of Gore” by director Guillermo Del Toro, FrightFest, set up in 2000, has grown in size and stature since its cult roots at the Prince Charles Cinema and today is internationally renowned for discovering exciting and original horror fantasy genre films and for supporting the talent behind them, helping to launch the careers of such directors as Simon Rumley, Christopher Smith, Eli Roth, Neil Marshall and Simon Hunter.
Over the years the festival directors, Greg Day, Alan Jones, Paul McEvoy and Ian Rattray, have developed FrightFest into a brand leader for horror film, expanding its footprint in the UK by hosting special events throughout the year and joining forces with the Glasgow Film Festival, where they run an established three-day event. They have teamed up with FAB Press to publish a series of ‘The FrightFest Guide To…’ books and have an exclusive partnership with Signature Entertainment to release films under the festival’s thriving label ‘FrightFest Presents’. You can catch the documentary FRIGHTFEST: BENEATH THE DARK HEART OF CINEMA on Amazon.”
Check out more on this year’s Frightfest
Frightfest 2024 Press Release: Video Vision
Press Release: 7 Keys Gets Teaser Ahead Of Frightfest
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