Dreams of the Last Butterflies

A new still from the film!  Evgeniya Radilova stars as the Acraea Swordtail Butterfly Queen.

A behind-the-scenes action shot from our recent test shoot for Dreams of the Last Butterflies.  We filmed a short test sequence with Flambeaux and Kai Altair at Attic Studios in NYC. The footage looks amazing, and will be included in our upcoming promotional video!  Special thanks to  Peter Clark for the use of his studio.

Getting started on the storyboards for Dreams of the Last Butterflies.  These will be used during the shooting process as a guide to framing and action.  (Storyboardist: Tony Wolf)

Concept art for 2 of our Butterfly Queens - The Large Blue Butterfly Queen, and the Monarch Butterfly Queen.  They will be joining 6 additional Butterfly Queens for the adventure!

Art by James Vogel.

One more image of Kai Altair as the Malabar Tree Nymph Butterfly Queen.

Photo by Nicholas Whitaker. (click to make bigger!)

The Malabar Tree Nymph (Idea malabarica) is a large butterfly found in south-western India in forest clearings and above the forest canopy.  They are unusually hard to spot since they typically prefer the tree-tops.

They are listed as “Near Threatened” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Our first ‘official’ promotional image for the film - Kai Altair as the Malabar Tree Nymph Butterfly Queen! 

Photo by Nicholas Whitaker.  (click to make larger!)

Initial concept sketches for The Collectors - villainous characters from Dreams of the Last Butterflies.

Art by James Vogel.

Initial rough costume sketches for the Monarch and the Purple Spotted Swallowtail!  Costumes for all of the Butterfly Queens are being hand-made by incredible clothing and fashion designer Wheylan Dean-Ford.

Watch “The Hidden Sister” - 2010, Thousand Names Productions

“The Hidden Sister”  is Director Zina Brown’s celebrated last short film, an official selection at 11 film festivals internationally.  Many of the same talented individuals involved will also help to bring Dreams of the Last Butterflies to life.  Kai Altair will once again be writing and recording a new song for the film, and Ben Cain will be returning as Director of Photography.

THE HIDDEN SISTER - OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:
Sexy International Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia
VisionFest 11, New York, NY
Miami Short Film Festival, Miami, FL
Action On Film International Film Festival, Pasadena, CA
Silicon Valley Film Festival, Santa Clara, CA
Brooklyn Shorts Film Festival, New York, NY
Shockfest Film Festival, Hollywood, CA
Coney Island Film Festival, New York, NY
Akasha Metaphysical Film Festival, Carmel, CA
Red Hook Film Festival, New York, NY
Lewiston-Auburn Film Festival, Maine

Our first test shoot for the movie - Madeleine Belle models the Malabar Tree Nymph beta-version wings.  The wings were designed and created by master costume craftsmen James Vogel and Randy Carfagno of Randy Carfagno Productions, based in New York City.

Dreams of the Last Butterflies is a mini-epic, live-action “Dark Faerie Tale”  short film - a unique vision with a powerful environmental message, full of wonder, dreams, and otherworldly performers.  Combining cutting-edge cinematography, fantastical costumes, epic faerie-tale poetry, and a sizzling electronica soundtrack, it will feature stunning performances by tribal bellydancers, ballet stars, fire masters, contortionists, and many more. 

Dreams of the Last Butterflies is a tale about the loss of butterflies in our world, and why they are disappearing - as told by the last Butterfly Queens themselves.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Zina Brown, with new music by tribal electro-rock star Kai Altair, the film is currently in pre-production and is scheduled to begin principal shooting late summer 2012.  We have created this blog as a way for fans, film enthusiasts, dreamers, and especially butterfly friends to follow our progress on this wildly ambitious project!

“The butterflies of this world are in serious trouble.  Between habitat loss, pollution and pesticides, invasive species and increasing temperatures - there is a very good chance if nothing changes the next generation of humans may have very few of these incredible, beautiful and delicate creatures left at all.  Many are on the brink of extinction.  Many more will follow - unless we, collectively, can somehow help them.  Though this film is a faerie-tale of sorts, it is my hope to tell their side of the story.  To show, though the ancient allegory and power of dreams, that something can be done.  Not only to raise awareness of the mostly man-made dangers that face these amazing beings of transformation - but to show that we, as humans… are indeed capable of transformation as well.”

**Please help us spread the word about this project!**

If you’d like to donate to the funding of the film, we’ll be setting up a Kickstarter page soon - stay tuned!

Yours in imagination…