THE PRIMAL FEAR
Frida Spång
Sweden
The Primal Fear is a mosaic of scenarios from surrealistic, haunting nightmares that together form the question of why we fear what we fear.
SYNOPSIS
The Primal Fear is a film within the genre of suggestive, magic realism built as a mosaic of scenarios from nightmares where the fears themselves stand in the center. Six women find their realities go from everyday situations to surrealistic, horrible scenarios, where the people around them seem strangely indifferent, where the rules of logic are turned around, and where the body and mind seem to go separate ways, leading them straight to the most feared, yet inevitable, outcome.
INTENTION
My fears have always been manifested through nightmares in, not completely unrealistic, yet absurd scenarios. In this film I depict some of these dreams, trying to find where the essence of the fears lies. The visuals in the film are slightly sickly yellow-greenish and grainy, where the camera shows very telescopic or long distances, is sometimes moving slowly and swaying, and is sometimes being partly obscured, creating a disorienting feeling. The rhythm of the film pends between slow and surprising and fast, creating a feeling that we are never safe. I am strongly inspired by the films Enter the Void, Requiem for a Dream, and Pi, where the visuals have a similar effect. The soundscape adds to the eerie feeling by being too sharp and isolated. The people surrounding the main characters all behave as if what happens is perfectly normal, being too casual and clueless. The scenarios themselves stand in focus, and like in dreams we are offered no explanation, nor any solution. We are simply thrown into this world to experience it, and reflect on why we fear what we fear.
DIRECTOR
Frida Spång
Frida Spång (they, them) grew up in the northern part of Sweden, in Umeå. They began making films at the age of eighteen but have since then pended between writing and directing both for film and theatre, as well as been working as an actor. In the spring of 2021, they graduated from HDK Valand with a master’s degree in film, where they worked with investigating queer perspectives and magic realism as a genre. Since 2004, they have been the founder/director of three theatre companies, have written and directed ten short films that have been screened both nationally and internationally, and have received Yellow Bird’s award for best film, and Avid Technical Award, amongst others.
fridaspang@gmail.com
Genre
Magical Realism
Length
30 min
Language
Swedish
Shooting location
to be confirmed
Estimated budget
€50.000
Looking for
Producer, Coproducers