DIRECTOR:

Frank van den Bogaart

SYNOPSIS

When her father goes missing, young Rena enters the woods to seek out a mythological creature believed to collect the stories of dying beings. A powerful interpretation of childhood grieving through the lens of mythology, richly cinematic, and poignant to the extreme.

DIRECTOR BIO

Frank van den Bogaart (1992) is a Dutch filmmaker based in Ghent, Belgium and Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He graduated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) in Ghent in 2021. In 2020 he made his first shortfilm Dryad. Darker (2022) is his second short. He’s currently working as a first assistant director and busy with his new film.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

Darker (2022) is inspired by my love for mythology, nature and the fear of losing my father. In 2019 my father tore his aorta. During this life threatening situation and whilst waiting for the outcome of the 10-hour operation, I could only think about him becoming a story. Luckily he survived the operation and he is still here to experience some new stories. But the thought of him becoming a story was dreadful, yet, in a way, also comforting. Because there will be something left. This experience and feeling is central in Darker.

Film wise I focused a lot on the sounds of the film. I wanted the audio to add a deeper layer to the dark images of the woods. The film is about listening so I figured there should be depth in a coherent auditive world as well. There is also a large role for production design. I love to build worlds.

Darker is a dark coming-of-age myth about loss, grief and listening.