HAVANA ROSE LIU - METAMORPHOSIS

(Short film)

DIRECTOR’S NOTE:
“We don’t need other worlds. We need a mirror.”
-Solaris (1972)

Art is often described as a mirror to the soul, and I wanted our film to explore how creative expression can be both an act of losing and finding oneself, as something unknown begins to take over in the process.

Working with Havana we developed a physical language for control and surrender, and how true expression often exists between the two. At points the movements feel uncanny or alien and other times full of grace. We looked at mirrors as a literal reflection of self, finding ways to fragment or complicate these images. Some moments feel like a dream - the space feels liminal and void-like at times - lacking a clear sense of time or place.

I was drawn to the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Red Shoes, where a young woman is cursed via her red ballet shoes to dance - possessed, as well as the 1948 movie, with its iconic spinning shots and surreal ballet sequence.

Sci-fi often asks us to look outward to the unknowing cosmos, to better see ourselves reflected back, but our inner galaxy is just as unknown, and strange, and full of starlight.


Metamorphosis, starring @havanaroseliu

A film by A Rabbit’s Foot

Directed, shot & edited by Alex Stenhouse (@alexstenhouse_)
Editor-in-Chief: Charles Finch (@charlespfinch)
Creative direction: Fatima Khan
Film producer & additional footage: Luke Georgiades (@luke_georgiades)
Music & Sound: Steven Weston (@stevenweston)
Shoot Producer: Lauren Southcott (@lsouthy)
Cover interview: Kitty Grady (@kittygrady)
Photographer: Olivia Arthur (@oliviarthur)
Photographer assistant: Philipp Ebeling (@philippebelinglondon)
Darkroom: Dominic Whisson (@dominicwhisson)
Wardrobe stylist: Rachel Bakewell (@rachelbakewell)
Styling assistant: Lorna Lane (@lornalane__)
Hair artist: Ben Talbot (@bentalbott)
Makeup artist: Florrie White (@florriewhitemakeup)
Shoot assistant: Tigerlily Campbell Smith (@ttiigerlilyy)
Design assistant: Kitty Spicer (@kitty_spicer)
Cover title treatment & art direction: Broad Peak Studio
16mm film, dev & scan @on8mil