Stop-Motion Animation “Butterflies” To Screen In Competition at Spain’s 2012 Sitges Fantastic Film Festival

Butterflies, a new stop-motion animation by Australian director Isabel Peppard, is selected to screen in competition at the 2012 Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in Spain.

Festival programmers have described the film as “A short destined to become an instant stop motion classic.” Butterflies had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on August 11, 2012. The invitation to Sitges marks the second major international festival screening for Butterflies since its completion at the end of July 2012.

Butterflies tells the tale of a young artist (Claire, voiced by Rachel Griffiths) who struggles to make a living by selling drawings to passersby. A businessman (Dalton Hearst, voiced by Nicholas Hope) recognizes her talents and offers her a paying job. The prospect seems inviting but the reality threatens to kill her imagination.

Interweaving Claire’s childhood memories with her contemporary life and nightmares, Butterflies is a gothic fairytale presented in Peppard’s predominantly bleak but beautifully ornate handcrafted world.

After attending the world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival Rachel Griffiths expressed her support for the film, “I’m so proud to have been part of such an extraordinarily crafted and wondrous short film. No doubt it will be the first in a substantial career for Isabel Peppard.”

Isabel Peppard says, “Screening at Sitges is an amazing opportunity to present our film amongst the world’s biggest names in horror and fantasy cinema. I feel so honored to screen alongside cinematic heroes of mine like David Cronenberg and Dario Argento at Sitges Fantastic Film Festival.”