WINGED AND IMPRINT DARK (2022)
19 min | English | Dir. Henry Fish and Sebastiano O'Grady
A solemn live-in-nurse cares for her enigmatic yet ailing Mistress, however, her devotion soon becomes obsession as her fantasies bleed into reality.
'With gorgeous cinematography and two wonderfully committed central performances, 'Winged and Imprint Dark' combines confident technical skill with a dark and twisted narrative that immediately call to mind films like Saint Maud and that’s meant as the highest of compliments.'
- Infinity Film Festival
During the January lockdown of 2021 we decided to write a film that would push us as writers and directors to make a film more ambitious than we had made before. Cut to a year later, several smaller projects in between, meeting and working with many incredibly talented young London creatives and purchasing a now beloved pet budgie, we have made Winged and Imprint Dark.
Winged and Imprint Dark is a dark comedic horror about the toxic co-dependent relationship of a live-in nurse and her ailing mistress. The title of our film was inspired by the phenomenon amongst birds known as ‘imprinting’ – in critical stages of their lives, birds imprint on each other and attach for life, sometimes even doing so with humans. Given the key image at the heart of our film is a temptress caged bird, we wanted to hint towards this in the title, calling the film ‘Winged’ from the early stages of development. We also wanted to hint towards the toxic co-dependent relationship that is explored within the film. The idea of humans imprinting on each other was a key notion we wanted to examine, the two characters of our film relying on each other, physically and mentally, mirroring the behavioural patterns of birds. We specifically set out to write a film for Millie and Phoebe, both incredibly talented performers. Given the minimal budget we were working with, it seemed best to write a two-hander that focused on character and performance, keeping the scope contained with an emphasis on the performances and character. This led us to the idea of a horror film about the potential toxicity of co-dependent relationships, having the connection between the two characters at the core of the film.
While dealing with a heavy subject matter – that being the pressures put on relationships by mental and physical ailments – the comedic elements and charisma of the actresses along with the horror framework packages the film so that a viewer can have fun with the film, making the exploration accessible and entertaining to watch. The film, in a broad sense, aims to explore how we cannot have truly meaningful relationships with those around us if we expect them to change for us, yet are unable to examine our own behaviour and change ourselves.
After eight film festival screenings and two awards for Best Cinematography and Best Horror Short Film, Winged and Imprint Dark is now available to watch for free on Vimeo and YouTube. Click the links below to watch now.
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Watch on Vimeo.
Watch on YouTube.
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Writer/Director: Henry Fish and Sebastiano O'Grady.
Starring Millie Felix and Phoebe Averdieck
Cinematographer: Willow Bidwell.
Music: Henry Alexander
Assistant Director: Joe Thomas.
First Assistant Camera: Lewis Watts.
Boom Operator: Louis Peppiatt.
Costumes: Grace Delve.
Production Runner: Yale Segal.
