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The Princess Under the Stairs

Impoverished and alone, six-year-old Norah must journey into an imaginary land to save her mother, from a seemingly enchanted sleep.

  • Sarah Goodall
    Director
  • Sarah Goodall
    Writer
  • Emily Rudd
    Producer
  • Mollie Cowen
    Key Cast
  • Ray Castleton
    Key Cast
  • Jonathan Nadav
    Key Cast
  • Mia Rachel
    Key Cast
  • Gilly Daniels
    Key Cast
  • Alice Jones
    Key Cast
  • Alex Veitch
    Director of photography
  • Elizabeth Bromby
    Production Design
  • Brian Gray
    Sound Recordist
  • Janet Perry
    Costume Design
  • Jayne Hyman
    Make-up Artist
  • Clare Gregory
    Make-up Artist
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Fantasy, Drama
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 28, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sarah Goodall

Graduating from the University of Leeds with a BA in Performance Design, a fascination with film led Sarah to study a MA in Film and Media Production. During this time she wrote and directed three short films, all of which showcased her natural flare for the creation of dark worlds on screen, and developed her as a director with a distinct visual style.

Sarahs directorial flair and dedication to her writing recently lead her short fantasy-drama screenplay, 'The Princess Under the Stairs' to be selected for development as part of Creative Englands iShorts scheme, which supports emerging British filmmakers.

In addition to writing and directing, Sarah has a passion for art direction and has worked upon various television and film projects within the art department, on projects which include Matador Pictures new feature film 'Residue' and Channel 4's 'Utopia II'.

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Director Statement

'The Princess Under The Stairs' is simultaneously a deeply moving piece of poetic drama and an epic fairy tale. The piece merges gritty, realist drama with high fantasy. Taking place within two worlds, a realm that would not be amiss within the tales of the Grimm Brothers and a dank, unkempt council flat. The combination of the two opposing worlds aims to highlight the stark contrast between the harshest of realities and the happy endings of post Disney fairy tales; drawing instead upon historic fantasy works which contained elements of horror and acted as a warning of the consequences of our actions.

Enveloped within the fantasy world within the mind of Norah (6), is the story of a child struggling to cope with a parent consumed by drug addiction, a very real issue in contemporary Britain. 'The Princess Under The Stairs' aims not to camouflage this truth behind a fairy tale, but use the fantasy world as a driving mechanism to highlight the methods of escapism often used by children to cope with the emotional trauma they undergo when living in such circumstances.