Director's Works
Mannequin Feefi
Hi I'm Feefi,
I've been making short films for aeons now, but recently I've altered the kind of stuff I've been writing and directing. Now, my projects lie somewhere between video art and avant garde, designed to be experienced either as a large projection in a gallery or in a darkened bedroom with some headphones on. Focussing on how a project will be consumed is something that fascinates me; I love the idea that your thoughts and feelings can speak directly to someone through this medium. It is a deeply personal and intimate experience to watch a film that isolates you from the other audience members, and seems to communicate to you alone. This is what has been driving me to create pieces that are more immersive and sensory, pieces that rattle emotional bones!
Mannequin took two years to make, with dotted periods of quiet and intensity. I knew it would be a long process given the complexity of what we were trying to do, but I definitely overestimated my burnout threshold. Most of the exterior scenes were shot from carparks, looking down onto the street below. I would direct via a phone call to either the cast or the AD. It was like Planet Earth for Stratford. This guerrilla style of shooting was only possible because we shot on my tiny HDV camera; this is all we had, so the whole film is shot on tape. We were shooting with a cast of fifteen at multiple locations, including a hand-painted set we built in my old man's back garden. Everyone was in it for the passion, and we had to lean into the raw, DIY nature of the darn thing itself! I've spent so much time thinking about this film that I really don't know how I feel about it anymore. One thing I do love, however, is it's meditative focus on strangers and pedestrians. In a way, seeing random people on the big screen with fat speakers kind of elevates them to divinity. I love that, and I love how even cheap projects like this have that ability.
