Light

Sci-Fi is almost always about our world as it is now, and LIGHT is no different in that regard. I didn't set out to make a movie with a particular message, but every movie needs to be about something and my worldview just seemed to creep in there. As the writing progressed, it became clear that *SPOILERS* this was a refugee story.

I couldn't help but be influenced by current events. At the time of writing that awful image of the drowned boy on the beach was fresh in the memory. At the time of the film's release, the UK has put an end to all legal routes for refugees into the UK and is fighting in the courts to send everyone who does make it here to Rwanda, in contravention of international law, our moral duty and basic human empathy.

I've generally found that you can't change people's minds through arguing. (Though heaven knows I've tried!) People have to change their own minds. They can't be cajoled out of their mindsets, but they can be guided, nudged, influenced... And that's where movies can come in.

LIGHT is a Sci-Fi horror creature feature on the surface. But there's a deeper meaning. It hopefully doesn't beat you around the head with it, but there's a message lurking in the mist with the monster. The hope is that someone who holds anti-immigrant views might put on LIGHT to watch a monster movie, empathise with the characters and everything they've been through... and then discover that the characters are refugees. And maybe just for a moment that will give them pause...

On a practical level, LIGHT was a labour of love. We undertook everything ourselves from concept to screenplay to designing and making the props and costumes all the way through to the final sound design. It's a project that has occupied every available moment for more than three years. Sacrifices have been made through that time, as we devoted time to this project instead of working on paying the bills. At times, it hasn't been easy, for us or our families.

Our hope is that working on LIGHT will benefit everyone involved, helping them in some way in their film careers. For ourselves, that means that we hope it helps us to make more movies (with slightly bigger budgets!), ideally enabling us to work full time on the next project. We have a whole host of ideas and scripts in various stages of completion for a wide range of budgets. What we do next depends largely on finance. Not that we'll let a lack of money stop us!

LIGHT is the first movie made by OUTATIME FILMS, but it definitely will not be the last. This is what we want to do in life, and we're finding ways to do it.