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.
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Sarah GoodallDirector
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Sarah GoodallWriter
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Emily RuddProducer
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Mollie CowenKey Cast
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Ray CastletonKey Cast
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Jonathan NadavKey Cast
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Mia RachelKey Cast
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Gilly DanielsKey Cast
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Alice JonesKey Cast
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Alex VeitchDirector of photography
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Elizabeth BrombyProduction Design
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Brian GraySound Recordist
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Janet PerryCostume Design
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Jayne HymanMake-up Artist
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Clare GregoryMake-up Artist
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Fantasy, Drama
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Runtime:12 minutes 6 seconds
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Completion Date:February 28, 2015
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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:digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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'.
'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.