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The God and Girl

A modern retelling of the myth of Apollo and Daphne. Daphne, a schoolteacher, is teaching her young class about local myths and legends and takes them on a trip to the beach to discover the magic of these tales. Apollo, a downtrodden fisherman, notices Daphne on the beach and she inspires within him a dangerous obsession. Daphne is transformed into a tree to avoid Apollo's advances, but she eventually fights back - transforming herself back into a human and exacting revenge on Apollo.

  • SJ van Breda
    Director
    Grey, Sentience, (Isola)tion
  • SJ van Breda
    Writer
    Grey, Sentience, (Isola)tion
  • Cristina Fenu
    Producer
  • SJ van Breda
    Producer
  • Angelo D'Anna
    Producer
  • Kent Donguines
    Producer
  • Maxime Beauchamp
    Producer
  • Gaia Lo Vecchio
    Key Cast
    "Daphne"
  • Alfredo Gile
    Key Cast
    "Apollo"
  • Matteo Bongiovanni
    Cinematographer
  • SJ van Breda
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 25 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 14, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Italy
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • CICI Film Festival 2019
    Castellammare del Golfo
    Italy
    September 12, 2020
    Sicilian Premiere
    Official Selection, Invited Filmmaker
Director Biography - SJ van Breda

SJ van Breda was born and raised in Durban, South Africa. She studied engineering before pursuing film at Vancouver Film School.

SJ has screened films at Whistler Film Festival, Oxford International Film Festival, Chilliwack Independent Film Festival, SA Indie Festival, and has filmed two shorts in Italy for the Pigneto and CICI Film Festivals. She was also placed in the top 10 of the Nespresso Talents 2018, was selected for the Adobe Design Achievement awards and won the documentary category of FilmicFest 2019. SJ is currently a Mi Creator with Xiaomi Studios and a freelance director and editor in Cape Town, South Africa and works mainly on editorial content, music videos and short films. She is also serving as an instructor and jury member for the inaugural MMOCA Film Festival in Cape Town in 2020. She is currently in development on two feature length documentaries and is writing her first feature film.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The God and Girl was created over 1 week at the CICI Film Festival 2019, and reworked over the past year to its finished form. The creation of this film has been my greatest challenge to date, as it was crewed and starred exclusively by Italians, and I speak absolutely no Italian. I was an invited filmmaker, and to direct in another language, primarily through use of sign language, was challenging in the extreme.

The God and Girl is a deeply personal representation of an age old myth. This retelling delves in to the experience of being a woman in modern society, and how it has changed very little from the experiences of old. The myth of Apollo and Daphne is at least a thousand years old, if not more, and was retold by Ovid hundreds of years ago. Yet, women still experience the same treatment from society as whole.

The God and Girl is, very simply, an acknowledgement of the problem and, subsequently, a call to action. If a myth that is hundreds of years old can still be an accurate description of a woman's experience - everything needs to change. In my version of the myth, I have not ended the tale where Daphne is transformed into a tree to escape Apollo's advances. Here, Daphne retake control of her environment, body, and mind, and transforms Apollo's reality instead. To be honest, I'm tired of making concessions as a woman, and I am done with negotiating for my rights and dignity. This film is a representation of that epiphany.