EVERYONE IS A STRANGER IN IOTA…
The Mowing Devil is a 22-min sci-fi thriller set in the dystopian city IOTA. Contemplating on the idea of modern alienation and fear as a driving mechanism, the story weaves two fateful paths: the leader of a UFO cult on the run, and a family of three seeking salvation amidst an alien invasion. Their destinies entwine in the shadow of the unknown.
A Modern Allegory.
It is as reasonable to represent one kind of imprisonment by another, as it is to represent anything that really exists by that which exists not.
— Daniel Defoe
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
While the name of the city implies “less than nothing,” the apocalypse itself displays a similar sense of absurdity and melancholy: the aliens are never physically present, yet they are omnipresent: through the pores of every soul, fear subtly infiltrates.
Under such circumstances, are we imprisoned by an external narrative, or are we equally imprisoned by our own minds, driven by fear and desires? And to whose gaze are we submitting ourselves? These are the ultimate questions that the film is trying to raise.
THE APPROACH
The story came to me as I was reading a folklore-moral tale named The Mowing Devil, or Strange News out of Hartfordshire (1678), which is believed to be the first documented event of the alien crop circle. However, what really draws me to this title is its unsettling undertone: mowing is a skillful job, as the tale says, but also a symbolic act of discipline and punishment; as a mower carefully levels and flattens a field of grass, he then runs it through regulation - either into a manmade fantasy, or an unnatural creation of hegemony.
Therefore, I intend to create a soft sci-fi triller that possesses fear towards such hegemonic tendency - a mundane yet sinister one. Having a Brechtian approach in mind, this film takes on the form of a modern allegory - in an altered reality that is a little disfigured, and a little uncanny: all characters go through trials and tribulations only to discover their beliefs to be shattered.
This, perhaps, is my own way to question and cope with this constant failure of my belief system, both internally and externally - about growing up, about media, and about entering the real cruel world.
Thus is the story of THE MOWING DEVIL.
