Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, upcoming talented filmmaker Kiefer Findlow is currently working on his latest short, INSOMNOLENCE.
Being shot on 16mm film, INSOMNOLENCE is a project that pays homage to the highly stylised, grainy, colourful and textured horror films of the 70s and 80s.
INSOMNOLENCE tells the story of a man, Virgil, being slowly driven to madness by his inability to deal with the loss of his beloved wife Lizzie. Unable to cope with grief, culminating in a case of chronic insomnia, Virgil finds himself sitting in on a therapy group. While the therapy proves to be a type of feeble distraction from his crumbling life, Virgil becomes increasingly troubled by visions of Lizzie’s hair, a mortal reminder of a life left behind, engulfing him as his sanity deteriorates.
While re-creating and re-contextualizing this type of film aesthetic for a new audience, this film project is also a meditation on how we deal with grief and loss. This is an area particularly close to Findlow, who is using the filmmaking experience to explore and come to terms with a personal loss of his own, that of an estranged brother in a car accident in 2011. INSOMNOLENCE is both a type of therapeutic expression and a tribute to those that we’ve lost, the presence of whom will haunt every frame of this film.
INSOMNOLENCE is a second year Masters project for Findlow, doing his Masters in Film Narrative at the Victorian College of Arts, and teaming up with Jacob Richards as a producer, who is doing his Masters in Film Producing at the same institution. The connection to establish a collaboration was made immediately on discovering a mutual love for creepy, atmospheric and stylised horror and thrillers, and eerie soundscape, synth-laden soundtracks. The pair were very quick to discuss the stellar Beyond The Black Rainbow as a recent inspiration.
Richards will be also writing the INSOMNOLENCE soundtrack, building the creative relationship between director and producer in an interesting way. Richards is purportedly excited to bring Mellotron drones and the hypnotic whir of a bullroarer to the sound palate of INSOMNOLENCE.
It is also very exciting to announce that part of the soundtrack will also be put together by Miles Brown, student of Russian theremin queen Lydia Kavina, and of Melbourne synth-horror The Night Terrors fame. Brown, who has played alongside the likes of Goblin and Hawkwind, will be writing the original INSOMNOLENCE theme music.
INSOMNOLENCE will be shot in late June, early July, and is currently accepting donations on Indiegogo to make this this Technicolor-nightmare a reality.
Keep up to date with Insomnolence’s progress on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/insomnolencefilm/, and be sure to throw in a coin or two at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/insomnolence/
To hear some of Brown’s work in The Night Terrors, and a sample of Richard’s music, head on over to Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/n1ghtt3rr0rs
https://soundcloud.com/puscha
