Rottweiler

Rottweiler is a film about love vs. freedom, and why someone should never have to choose. When developing the story, I was initially drawn to the theme of nuture vs. nature. The inspiration for Leo’s character hit me when walking past a wicked looking pitbull in South London. The idea that aggressive dogs had been taught to hate was a concept I wanted to explore further. These animals weren’t born like this, they were raised on fear. Thus, Leo became the Rottweiler of our tale and ultimately the downfall of our protagonist, Sophia.

With Sophia, we wanted to construct a character who harbours an iceberg of emotions beneath her, but reveals nothing on the surface. For months she's been waiting for Leo to return so she can finally escape to a better life. When he eventually rocks up, she's faced with his debt and an awful choice. She sees that Leo has put everyone around him in harms way to survive, but she just can’t face losing anyone else. She therefore decides to help him.

The tragic ending to the story is an allegory for our society in a way, and the club is the perfect setting. Night clubs are places where civilised people are reduced to animals, sexual harassment is commonplace and certain men try to assert their dominance like bucks over their deer. Sophia navigates this world every night, and turns to it for her escape. Ultimately it traps and forces her to stare at her dream in a twisted fate, which aims to show that although we’ve come so far as a society, there’s still a long way to go.