Heartland International Film Festival / San Diego International Film Festival 2019 – Philophobia
Set in the rolling hills of the English countryside, Philophobia is a picture of small-town adolescence. One week of high school remains for Kai, an aspiring writer, and his friends. How they choose to spend this time will awaken sexual desires, cost one of them their life, and leave them all changed forever.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Guy Davies
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you! I’ve had a burning desire to make films since I was nine years old. I used to make films on cassette growing up in my countryside village in the UK with my friends. We had to edit in camera because we didn’t know how to use a computer, so if we fluffed a take we would rewind and re-record over it. The whole story had to be shot exactly chronologically! Anyway, it felt right that my first feature would be made where it all began. Set in my home town, filmed in the actual high school I attended as a child and drawing influence from my own experiences growing up in the area.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It’s a truly independent film. A rare breed, there’s no government money or film grants in this production. It’s an unadulterated approach from a new filmmaker with no outside influence on the creative. Stuff like that always excites me as an audience member because I know it’s going to be pure and I’m seeing the director’s vision. It’s an honest portrayal of small-town adolescence in the UK. An authentic coming of age story born out of life experience with brilliant performances from a fresh young cast.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Universal themes affect almost all our young characters and then we see how they approach them differently depending on their personality and situation. Fatherless youth is a good example of this in Philophobia as it is a theme that affects all. There are no fathers in the film and an ensemble of teenagers who deal with the lack of a father figure in different ways.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
To be honest, there hasn’t been much evolution from conception to execution. I started with a relatively clear idea of what I wanted to achieve, jotted down the story as bullet points; began writing and stuck with that vision throughout the process from the script all the way through post-production.
However, the film could have been rather different with the same story. I had to take a break from the film for a year when my mum became ill and sadly eventually passed away. When I took the break, I thought the film was in a good place. I was pretty happy and I felt we were close to locking the cut, upon watching it on my return I felt the opposite. We were a long way off and some of the scenes really didn’t feel as honest as they needed to for me. There was a lack of life experience, a naivety to some scenes which I had to be addressed for authenticity. I reconstructed some scenes, changing performances slightly and telling the same story in a slightly different way. So although the actual story didn’t evolve I think the delivery and the way the film speaks matured.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
So far the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from the industry through to test screenings, but for me, the general public is the real test as they have no affiliation or professional relationships to potentially nurture, so I am excited to screen with festival audiences in the next few weeks and I’m crossing my fingers.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Not recently. I did have challenging feedback to my first assembly of the edit and rough cuts that made me take a step back and reevaluate my approach in a few key scenes to make sure people understood the intentions of my characters. Usually a case of making things less subtle, it’s a fine balance when you’ve also written the film because your grip on the subtext is exhaustive and making sure that translates and lands with the audience delicately can be tricky. I find it’s easy to do too little when you know it so well.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We’re a little indie movie and I just want to spread the word as much as possible. Prove that there’s an audience for films like ours, at our budget level coming out of the UK. I want as many bums on seats at our festival screenings as possible and to meet new people to share the film with and have a conversation.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Definitely, a distributor who believes in the movie and shares my goals for it.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Honestly, I don’t feel like I’m looking to make an impact, especially as this is my debut. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a film people need to go and see, but first and foremost my goal was to make a film that I enjoyed. That I could look back on fondly and say that’s a good film and feel all my creative integrity is intact. I feel I’ve done that and I’m just hoping people share my taste in movies. I’d love the film to be well received because it would mean a lot to all the lovely people that worked hard and gave so much of themselves to bring it to life.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I think there are many, largely centred around the lead characters choices. It’s a transitional moment in his and all his peers' lives, the last week of high school. He starts the film very confident of his path and the idea of his future but doubts gradually creep in through his journey as he’s pulled in different directions and his path becomes less clear. He makes some very questionable decisions on this journey which will split audiences and force them to look at themselves. I think the key question we’re left with is utilitarian in nature. What price is too high to pay for the greater good?
Would you like to add anything else?
Philophobia will have its World Premiere at Heartland International Film Festival on Sunday 13th of October at 430pm in AMC Castleton Square 11 followed by a Q&A with my cast and I. If you’re in Indianapolis come along, bring a friend, you can be the first members of the general public to watch the film!
We then move over to California for our West Coast Premiere and screenings at San Diego International Film Festival on the 17th and 18th of October. All the details are on our facebook page @philophobiafilm. Hope to see you there!
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Writer & Director Guy Davies is developing his next feature film, a small-town crime drama. Matt & Toby of Fablemaze are currently building a slate of feature projects to take forward for 2020.
Interview: October 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Philophobia
Set in the rolling hills of the English countryside, Philophobia is a picture of small-town adolescence. One week of highschool remains for Kai, an aspiring writer, and his friends. How they choose to spend this time will awaken sexual desires, cost one of them their life, and leave them all changed forever.
Length: 2:05:00
Director: Guy Davies
Producer: Guy Davies, Matt Cook, Toby Cook
Writer: Guy Davies
About the writer, director and producer:
Guy Davies is a writer-director and sloth enthusiast from the UK taking his debut feature to festivals in the US.
Key cast: Joshua Glenister (Kai), Harry Lloyd (Mr. Jackson), James Faulkner (Mr. Hurt)
Looking for: distributors, journalists
Facebook: Philophobia
Twitter: @philophobiafilm
Instagram: @philophobiafilm
Hashtags used: #philophobiafilm
Website: www.philophobiafilm.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Fablemaze
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Heartland International Film Festival / Indianapolis AMC Castleton Square 11 - Sunday 13th of October at 430pm; San Diego International Film Festival / Theatre Box - Thursday, October 17th at 2:30pm