The Girl In The Woods is a short film that’ll make you feel like a badass
There is a new era of films, short and feature length, focusing on women empowerment. “The Girl In The Woods” is the latest short film to take on this theme… with a Tarantino twist.
Think Atomic Blonde featuring a snuff director and “six gun-strapped hookers.”
In this eccentric short film director Sebastian Sdaigui has created a hyper realistic world that looks dope and gives women the power. After acting in the film myself, I caught up with him to see where his style came from and where it’s going.
How did you come up with the concept for The Girl In The Woods?
It was originally based off a chapter in a feature film that I’m working on. I wanted to see how it would play out if I made a short film similar to the idea. I think that off beat characters are more true to the real world. No one is perfect. So I heightened the stakes and showed them in a crazy world.
Although its quite dark, it’s also kind of funny. Was that your intention?
Initially it wasn’t supposed to be funny, but the actors brought a cheeky sense of humor and I think it ended up working out perfectly!
I feel like the film really focuses on women vs. men. Is this on purpose? Do you feel like you want to empower women?
I’ve always felt women are badass and they don’t get enough credit. So I used that in the short. However, I don’t view this film as men vs. women but more of a good vs. bad (and the guys are the bad ones lol).
Are you not worried that people will be uncomfortable with the genre and style of your movie?
No, that never crossed my mind. I think it’s cool and it is what it is lol. Whoever is interested in that type of film will enjoy it.
The leads in the film are very different, weren’t you worried they were too juxtaposed?
No. To be honest, I love how different they are. [You were] able to naturally bring Beatrix to life in this film. Espen is true and raw with his acting and I felt like that worked well with the role of Charlie.
What reaction do you want from your type of film
I want people to enjoy it and have a good time when they watch my films. I want them to want more!
Why drugs, snuff directors and brothels?
Why not? Everybody has their own story to tell. Our society has made certain people outcasts and those are usually the people with the most interesting lives.
Was anyone hard to work with?
It’s a bunch of method actors, your question should be who was the easiest to work with. Jk! Really though, we all had a fun time and I was able to learn a lot from everybody. The shoot was fun, we shot at the famous porn studio in San Francisco.
That must have been interesting!
For sure! When you come on set every night, you see all the porn stars leaving. Some interesting characters to say the least
What was the most difficult thing about filming this short film?
Just like any shoot, trying to stretch out the budget to make it work was difficult because we had so many moving parts. We were also filming overnight for seven days at a porn studio so by the end we were all worn out 🙂
What’s next for you?
I am currently working at Def Jam as their music video director which is cool. I’ve been able to work with dope artists and its shown me a lot about the industry. I also just released a short documentary called Headless that follows three hedonistic gay performers in New York. Now I am just working on a feature following my short The Bumblebees.
You can find The Girl In The Woods below:
https://vimeo.com/229491425