"Intimate and epic…mesmerising" - Iain Sinclair, about The Forest in Me
Eight years in the making, The Forest In Me is The Electric Palace's Rebecca E Marshall's documentary and film poem about isolation, connection and above all love.
The film shares stories of people cut off from the world to examine how they might stay connected: An elderly hermit Agafya Lykova survives alone in the vast Siberian forest; a crew live isolated in a hi-tech pod on a volcano as a simulation of life on Mars; footage of the child’s life shows him exploring the world for his first time.
But it needs YOUR help to see it reach the masses!
There's just a week left to support the IndieGoGo crowdfunder to fund the final touches:
Find out more and support The Forest in Me >>
What does the film need for completion?
A 65 minute edit of the film that has already had some wonderful reviews. It also boasts a soundtrack from renowned musician and collaborator Jim White of Warren Ellis's outfit Dirty Three!
Now Rebecca needs to finish the film with a professional colour grade, sound mix, online, subtitling and conversion to cinema standard.
"This is a very costly part of the film-making process," says Rebecca, "but after travelling so far to get to this stage, we feel the film deserves to be finished to the highest standard. We promise every penny you donate will be carefully spent to make something of true value," she says.
See a clip from the film:
The Forest in Me Excerpt: SPACE JUNK.mp4 from Rebecca E Marshall on Vimeo.
Can you help us get THE FOREST IN ME finished and onto the big screen?
Reviews of The Forest in Me so far
"Rebecca E Marshall brings a poet’s eye and a mother’s tongue to this compelling exploration of what it means to live in isolation whilst all around the hub-bub of human existence sets about its busyness. Her here-and-now dissolving into what has-been and what might yet-be…” - Andrew Kotting, Filmmaker
“There’s never been a better time for The Forest in Me. A brilliant reflection on how to learn from the loneliness of the past few years through a mother’s message to her child. Help make sure everyone can hear this wonderful film’s message.” - Mark Johnston, Director/Writer, Nomad Films, Canada
“Rebecca E Marshall’s film, The Forest in Me, is an antidote. She slows time and allows us to listen in on this most intimate message from a mother to her child. The message is from the future, it is also from the past. It is comprised of brief sparks of memory, dreams and visions of the future. Rebecca wants to arm her small son for the future that waits for him, she wants to prepare him for the inevitable moments of loneliness and fear, she wants to reassure him of her enduring love. She lists the qualities she most values; the resilience and holiness of an old woman living in the heart of a Siberian forest, the patience and courage of a Mars simulation crew. She discovers that he is her teacher in what she calls, “the glorious chaos of living”. This film-poem is a hand print left on the cave wall.” - Tony Grisoni, Screenwriter and filmmaker
Musician Giorgos Xylouris writes about his musical inspiration from The Forest in Me:
"I was strongly inspired by Rebecca’s film, which is at the same time a delicate farewell letter her new born son will receive in the future.
I was deeply moved by images of simple life; Rebecca’s newborn baby, Agafya's relation with her animals, the creatures in the forest, the small plants the Nasa trainees cultivate. I imagined these living beings growing each one with its own rhythm, but all of them under the same tune, the same frequency, that of the universe, like a common pulse of a bigger organism.
The boy’s story suggested to me an intimate, close and dreamy sound. In Agafya’s story the main element is nature and all sounds are inspired by it. In the Nasa simulation program storyline I felt time was dilated and everything would need more time. Each storyline has its own texture, but they are all connected. I thought if I’d play open strings and let the sound ring and flow to the space of the astronauts, to the forest of Agafya, and the time of the child, this would make the elements permeable and let music organically live into the film.
Please donate to this campaign to help us complete the post-production and bring this remarkable collaboration to your screens."
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