Florianopolis-based outfit Novelo Filmes has boarded Cintia Domit Bittar’s Brazilian found-footage horror pic project “By Demon’s Will,” a Beyond the Window co-prod forum player at Buenos Aires’ Ventana Sur.
“By Demon’s Will” follows Lena, a student finishing her Master’s dissertation about people who believe they are possesed by demons. At a psychiatric clinic, she interviews patients with that profile and ends up meeting Rose, who confesses to have set fire to her family’s house with her parents and brother inside, under the guidance of demons.
Investigating Rose’s past, Lena will find a VHS tape containing images recorded at her brother’s birthday party, clues to what actually might have happened.
The film, currently in development, “intends to explore the found-footage horror sub-genre in a pure way, preserving to the maximum its a esthetic and narrative characteristics, without the use of resources like sound effects, soundtrack or visual and post-production tricks, said Novelo Filmes‘ partner and producer Ana Paula Mendes.
“So we want to keep a distance from movies that use found-footage only as a style, and not as a sub-genre with its own characteristics, codes and rules.”
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“Main references for ‘By Demon’s Will’ can be found in disturbing footage from real clinical records. Also, we like ‘Child of Rage,’ a home-made style film about a psychopathic child from the 1990s, where we can hear the voice off of the psychiatrist interacting and asking the patient questions,” she added.
“Found-footage is a better way to tell this story,” said Cintia Domit Bittar, “By Demon’s Will” writer-director and Novelo Filmes co-founder.
“Our film revolves around a recorded clinic diary from a psychologist, our lead character, that studies people who believe they are possessed by demons. She records every session with her patients, where bizarre and scary things happen. So we believe that using her recordings like a found-footage, we could have a much more powerful narrative.”
Project earned a R$60,000 (US$15,568) support after winning the Santa Catarina state’s Premio Catarinense de Cinema, which helped to cover 25% of film’s total budget.
“By Demon’s Will” has a fresh plotline, lead by female characters, with a very strong subplot that covers different kinds of abuse -physical and mental- taking in religious fanaticism. It’s a very rich and dramatic universe,” said producer Ana Paula Mendes.
At Beyond the Window, Novelo Filmes team is looking for creative co-producers, post-production funding and potential international sales agents and distributors.
“We plan to fund and shoot the film in 2016. We are open to shoot anywhere, as the narrative allows us to do that,” Mendes added.
