C7. Best Cinematography (Nominee)
Reel #1: Surfing with Butterflies
From Benjamin McLeod
On his 18th birthday, Jesse cocoons himself inside his coastal family home, reminiscing about bittersweet childhood memories with his siblings. But as his older sister and brother vanish from sight, Jesse struggles to find his wings and fly away from a place so haunted by memory.
I am a 20-year old film director named Benjamin McLeod. I am a third year student studying a Swinburne University of Technology Film and TV Degree. As a young filmmaker, I want to create emotional stories, that are experimental and strange both narratively and visually. In 2020, Australia had a mass migration of butterflies in coastal areas and it inspired my crew to make our 16mm film, ‘Reel #1: Surfing with Butterflies’. It is the first part of three stories that all have aspects of my coming-of-age. The film explores my fear of losing my childhood, memories and family. It also explores the difficulty to transform, and find beauty in becoming an adult. Despite this film being a piece of fiction, it is very personal to me.
What inspired you and your work?
My dad's side of the family had a beach holiday house throughout my entire childhood. It became a home to sort of escape everything and just be able to find peace in times of stress. In lockdown, I was 14 and I was struggling with my mental health. I was down at my holiday house, and I saw a flock of white butterflies flying over the ocean towards the amber sunset. At this time in 2020, butterflies were having a mass migration on coastal Australia. I felt like I was leaving parts of my childhood, and I felt myself drifting and growing up and that was terrifying. Ever since that memory of seeing the butterflies flying away from land towards the sea, I knew I would someday make a film about it and connect it to my coming-of-age experience. In the creation of this project, I was also heavily inspired by filmmakers like Charlie Kaufman, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Charlotte Wells, and her film 'Aftersun'. They inspired me to tell slow moving stories about memory, that also have beautiful natural imagery.