Siren
A story of lust and desire, of identity and sexuality. Elizabeth, an English rose, falls for Sirena, a mysterious sensuous Spanish woman. From their initial meeting Elizabeth feels an overwhelming attraction for Sirena that grows with intensity; all complicated by Elizabeth’s on / off relationship with local guy Tom.
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Louise Marie CookeDirectorFirst Bite (short)
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Louise Marie CookeWriterFirst Bite (short)
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Louise Marie CookeProducerFirst Bite (short)
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Shian DenovanKey CastSawney: Flesh of Man (feature)
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Valeria VereauKey CastWelcome to Harmony (feature)
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Christian KindeKey CastPlastic (feature)
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Laura BellinghamDirector of PhotographyThe Line (short)
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Neil FergussonEditorKulajo: My Heart Is Darkened (TV Movie documentary)
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Victoria WijeratneComposerThe Liability (feature)
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:LGBT, women, drama
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Runtime:23 minutes
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Completion Date:June 15, 2014
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Production Budget:10,000 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Arri Alexa
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Aspect Ratio:2.35:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Iris Prize FestivalCardiff, UK
October 11, 2014
UK Premier
Nominated: Best British Short -
Underwire FestivalLondon, UK
November 15, 2014
London Premier
Nominated: Best Cinematography -
Mix Brasil Festival Culture of DiversityBrazil
November 19, 2014
Latin American Premier -
London Short Film FestivalLondon, UK
January 11, 2015 -
Borderlines FestivalHertfordshire, UK
March 1, 2015 -
Queer VisionBristol, UK
April 26, 2015 -
Inside Out Toronto LGBT FestivalToronto, Canada
May 21, 2015
Canadian Premier -
Fairy Tales FestivalCalgary, Canada
May 29, 2015 -
Eros: Lisbon Erotic Film FestivalLisbon, Portugal
June 11, 2015
Portuguese Premier -
FramelineSan Francisco, USA
June 24, 2015
USA Premier -
Las Vegas Lift Off Film FestivalLas Vegas, USA
June 26, 2015 -
Image+Nation LGBT Film FestivalMontreal
Canada
November 28, 2015
Louise is a writer and director making films with complex female characters at the centre of the narrative. Her previous short films have screened both at home in the UK and internationally at renowned festivals including LSFF, Frameline: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival and InsideOut Toronto.
Louise studied at the Northern Media School, and began working as a producer on independent short films and promos including the award winning Film London short Physical Education (2010). The following year she moved into directing, making her non student debut with the Film London backed coming of age film First Bite (2011).
This was followed up with Siren (2014), a 23 minute short which focuses on the sexual awakening of Elizabeth, a young woman who meets an older Spanish woman and begins to question her mundane life in a quiet English coastal town.
In 2015 Louise made her first non-fiction film with Alice: A Social Media Journey. Alice is a short social media bio-doc commissioned by the joint university research project ‘ReeLives’ which looks at digital personal data and the online personas.
More recently Louise was selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2016 Talent Lab and Film London’s ‘London Calling 2017’ short film fund in conjunction with the Eastern Edge Film Fund. Her latest short film is Pillow Talk, a short coming of age film set in the early 90’s which will begin its festival run shortly.
http://louisemariecooke.com/
Siren came about from the wish to express the moment where a person is hit out of nowhere by a sudden rush of desire that knocks them off their feet. The intense feeling that confuses even the most straight forward sensible people; desire that makes a person lose a grip on normality. In Siren, the result is intensified as Elizabeth is already a character struggling with her sexual identity at the beginning of the film and so when she meets Sirena the desire unlocks a part of her fully for the first time and as a result she goes on a crazy spiral of confusing self-destruction. The end of the film is deliberately ambiguous, with some people reading into it as a suicide attempt. For me the end of the film is one of acceptance and cleansing, of letting go and stripping back from everything that is holding Elizabeth back from being who she is. With the act of stripping naked and swimming, she is the one taking control of her future and saying this is me.