The Bowman Arts Centre will be transformed into a spooky forest, Jan 15-26.
The forest and the accompanying silent film, “Deergirl and the Magical Forest,” is the product of the imaginations of Robert Bechtel and Kathy Zaborsky.
They combined their interests and expertise in performance and visual art for this project, which was inspired by an early horror movie, the 1920s’ silent film ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,’ by German expressionist Robert Weine based on a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer.
The movie inspired Zaborsky, a familiar face with New West Theatre, and local artist Bechtel, to create their own film based on Bechtel’s character Deergirl, which started appearing in his works several years ago.
“ A few years ago we did some work together and this looked like it would be a lot of fun. And we’re both fans of old movies in general,” Zaborsky said adding they both designed and painted the sets and shot several hours of footage, then edited it down to the 10 minute movie which will be set on a loop and be shown at the Bowman until Feb. 26.
The spooky set pieces will be on display in the main room of the Bowman, with the film showing at the end of the forest. The other room will feature stills and art work from the film.
“We tried to create characters based on the creation. They are both like the Adam and Eve myth, except the female ( Deergirl) comes first and Tarantulani is born out of one of her tears,” Bechtel explained.
“And they go on a quest for the heart of gold, so it is a birth of awareness as they both explore this other world,” Zaborsky added.
“They are quite androgenous in appearance,” he said adding they had a lot of fun filming the movie because the characters turned out so unique.
“So it’s hard to take them too seriously,” Bechtel continued adding he is not sure where the inspiration for Deergirl came from though it combines his love for folklore myth and nature as female deer don’t have antlers like Deergirl does.
“There are some dark images. if I was a kid I might be frightened by it, but there are also lighthearted moments as well,” Zaborsky said adding as she lives in Vancouver, it was a challenge to get together with Bechtel for the project, so most of it was completed during the summer during the day during the run of New West’s summer productions, with the finishing touches coming together during the Christmas production of Glitz.
“If I was a kid, I might find it a little creepy, so I’m interested in seeing what kids think of it,” Zaborsky said adding the film is only 10 minutes long, so people will be able to come in at any point of the film and still be able to follow it.
“There are enough interesting images in it to keep people interested anyway,” she said adding she enjoyed working with Robert Bechtel on the project.
“Robert makes a great actor,” Zaborsky enthused.
“And Kathy has a great sense of compostion because she works in theatre,” said Bechtel returning the compliment adding the end result is very close to the original vision.
“The core is still there. The story is already there as long as it has a strong core. It was almost like the characters were leading me,” Bechtel continued.
The opening reception for the show is Jan. 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Bowman Arts Centre.
A version of this story appears in the Jan. 12, 2011 edition of the Lethbridge Sun Times.
