This morning we start fundraising for The Library of Burned Books. I’m producing, and I’m pleased to be working on such a good, solid script, and with a director who has a great eye for fantastic images.
The Library of Burned Books is a short film that combines live action with animation to tell the story of a young girl who sees through the lies of a cruel adult world. We’re shooting in late October in London, and we’re raising funds through IndieGogo.
The Story
On a chill October evening the fire wardens come to the school. The furnace has been stoked and the books have been sorted. The teachers are exhausted from watching over excited pupils, kept late so they can participate in the burning. The Headmaster, a disappointed, deflated man, is stamping books in his study. The Captain of the Fire Wardens, a former pupil, comes to see him in his study. The Headmaster is distressed and a little envious to see how quickly the young Captain has advanced.
Elsewhere in the school, a Teacher catches a girl named Alexandria reading one of the banned books – an illustrated copy of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. This is intolerable behaviour, especially on the eve of such an important ceremony! Alexandria and the book are dragged to the Headmaster.
The girl must be punished, the book condemned.
The fire-lit ritual begins and tensions run high in the school. The Headmaster’s betrayals will reveal the brutality of the adult world to Alexandria. But he may find the courage to keep her belief in the magic of stories alive.
If you’d like to support us financially, you can do so safe in the knowledge that the money is handled by Paypal.
