country of production: Poland | language: English | status: feature, in development | production: 2024/25
BABA
A fairytale about caring and being cared for.
SYNOPSIS
Monty (Arlo Carter) is caretaker to his father June who has fallen sick after the disappearance of Baba, their mystical companion. With the decline of June’s health grows Monty’s resentment. His hunting colleague Elma (Małgorzata Apse) invites him to a performance by a bewitching puppeteer (Kamil Dobrowolski) who convinces Monty to give June away. This act casts Monty into a no-mans-land of shame and leaves him under the care of Elma, with his senses failing and Baba's return drawing near.
CONCEPT TRAILER
Directors: Laurence McManus & Judyta Potocka
Cast: Arlo Carter, Małgorzata Apse and Kamil Dobrowolski
The film's rural setting depicts a land of disagreeable nature, a waking bad dream from the countryside. Caring for June has become a labour Monty loathes and this resentment leads him to reveal his worst urges. In telling this story, we see the burden of care rest on each of the characters and the warmth and cruelty they are capable of. We are stepping into an unclean fairytale of men and women at odds with themselves, lost together and finding closeness within the madness.
ETHOS
Sustainable production, co-operation with local community and connecting a diverse set of people to independent filmmaking are our key values in the making of BABA.
Production will take place in Podkarpackie, Poland, the region one of our Directors - Judyta Potocka grew up and which has diverse filmic potential throughout. We will work with the Podkarpackie Film Commission and local filmmakers to make a positive impact on the locations we film in by engaging in promotion and restoration. Aligning ourselves with the Film dla Klimatu (Film for Climate) initiative, re-homing production design where possible to local artistic outfits - as we have achieved with past projects, and reducing waste by keeping a small crew are the cornerstones of our commitment to green film production.
Through this project we are connecting a diverse group of individuals from different backgrounds to the process of film production. We can empower people passionate about artistic work to be involved in its production, contribute to a meaningful process and see the worth of its realisation. The creative team developing BABA are based in Kraków and London. We are eager to collaborate with NGOs, artists, producing partners and investors who share our values.
PREVIOUS PROJECT
Production Designer: Andie Scott
Screenwriter | Director: Laurence McManus
Director of Photography: Judyta Potocka
The Wind and the Whimpering (34', 2023) is an impressionist fiction about monotony, malaise and anthropomorphic heroes struggling with doubts of humanisation. The film garnered screenings and placements in festivals across Europe and the USA, including a premiere at Prishtina International Film Festival. The project was a case study, both in creative experimentation and the production process. Pairing natural environment with clear artifice, reaching the intimacy which breathes between absurd conflict and prioritising sustainable practice all provided the foundations for the development of BABA.
The Wind and the Whimpering partnered with British wildlife charity Froglife early in development to raise money for their cause as the film progressed, and worked with nature trust Horsell Common Preservation Society to ensure mutually beneficial co-operation in protected locations. The entirety of the materials used to build the set for The Wind and the Whimpering were donated to the Aldingbourne Trust to be used in local theatre and the costumes of the characters returned to Flexitron Studios where they were recycled to take life in subsequent productions. The film was released in March 2023 and celebrated Earth Day 2023 with a day of free pruchases.
ABOUT
ANDIE SCOTT
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Andie Scott is founder of Flexitron Studios, London. For over a decade she has been creating set and costume designs for film, theatre and circus productions, working with diverse partners from dark clowns to the National Centre for Circus Arts. In 2023, she designed and built the world of The Wind and the Whimpering.
LAURENCE MCMANUS
SCREENWRITER | DIRECTOR
Raised in the New Forest, the strange-hoods and art of rural England were formative in Laurence's growth as a filmmaker. He has written and directed short films, experimental projects for exhibition and online series for the British Comedy Guide. In 2023, he wrote and directed The Wind and the Whimpering, a medium-length fiction which screened across Europe and the USA.
JUDYTA POTOCKA
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY | DIRECTOR
Judyta is a visual artist and filmmaker; her work as a Director of Photography lays mostly in independent narrative productions. Judyta's own experimental works have been published in the international journal Surveillance & Society. She is also an educator, training to become an art therapist, researching ways of looking at filmmaking and use of camera in psychological context.
MAŁGORZATA APSE
ELMA
(Cast)
Małgorzata is a graduate of A. Zelwerowicz Theatre Academy in Białystok. In 2022 she took part in the International Screen Acting Workshop in Film Academy Baden - Württemberg. This year she began her first season as an actress of the Latvian Puppet Theatre, and appeared in My Freedom (Dir. Ilze Kunga), Latvia's candidate for the Academy Award. She will portray the role of Elma, Monty's lonely hunting companion.
ARLO CARTER
MONTY
(Cast)
A graduate from the New York Film Academy, Arlo's recent performances include Logan in Joachim Hedén's thriller The Last Breath (2023) alongside Alexander Arnold and Julian Sands. Hailing from the West Country, he has an appreciation for rural England and the characters found therein. In 2023, he led The Wind and the Whimpering and he will play the role of Monty in BABA.
KAMIL DOBROWOLSKI
DAFFSKI
(Cast)
Trained in the Meisner method, Kamil has acted across Poland in a diverse variety of productions. In 2015, he played Mietek in László Nemes’ Cannes Grand Prix and Academy Award winning feature Son of Saul. Kamil is a regular cast member featuring in the repertoire of Rzeszów’s esteemed Theatre Maska. He will play opposite Arlo Carter as the film's insatiable provocateur, Daffski.
BEZ GŁOWY | WITHOUT A HEAD
An inter-disciplinary collective based in Kraków, Poland.
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BABA will be the second long-form narrative film made by the founders, Judyta Potocka and Laurence McManus, following The Wind and the Whimpering and numerous exhibition and experimental films. Formed organically over a number of years, the organisation unites artistic practice with values of collective development, drawing on the pair's experience in Film and Judyta's work in Theatre and Art Therapy.
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