by Kyna Morgan
After a career spent mining his music from the shadows, one fan creates a chain reaction for the lead singer of a black metal band.
Congratulations on having your film Black Metal chosen for the U.S. Narrative category of the Sundance Shorts Program this year! Your film Hellion, which was a hit at Sundance last year, is now being developed into a feature film. Do you have hopes that Black Metal can achieve the same success or be expanded in the same way?
Absolutely. The short film was pulled from a feature script I’d been working on for about a year prior. I took the first act and then re-crafted it into thirteen pages. My plan is to spend the next year going back to the metal feature while we’re making Hellion.
What led you to follow the character blamed for a murder rather than the murderer character himself? It's not necessarily a typical perspective to present in a film.
We never get to see the other side of the finger being pointed — the aftermath of people, artists, musicians being blamed for tragedies. That perspective is way more interesting to me. How do they struggle with the public blame? How do they protect their families? Their kids? How do they wrestle with such crushing emotions?
WATCH Candler's short film Black Metal:
After a career spent mining his music from the shadows, one fan creates a chain reaction for the lead singer of a black metal band.
Congratulations on having your film Black Metal chosen for the U.S. Narrative category of the Sundance Shorts Program this year! Your film Hellion, which was a hit at Sundance last year, is now being developed into a feature film. Do you have hopes that Black Metal can achieve the same success or be expanded in the same way?
Absolutely. The short film was pulled from a feature script I’d been working on for about a year prior. I took the first act and then re-crafted it into thirteen pages. My plan is to spend the next year going back to the metal feature while we’re making Hellion.
What led you to follow the character blamed for a murder rather than the murderer character himself? It's not necessarily a typical perspective to present in a film.
We never get to see the other side of the finger being pointed — the aftermath of people, artists, musicians being blamed for tragedies. That perspective is way more interesting to me. How do they struggle with the public blame? How do they protect their families? Their kids? How do they wrestle with such crushing emotions?
WATCH Candler's short film Black Metal:
You had a successful indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for this film (reaching over $7,000 of a $6,000 goal). What were some of the most challenging things about crowdfunding Black Metal?
It’s always terrifying setting a goal. I always have such doubt we’ll make it. And inevitably we go over. I think because of that fear, I’m one of those people that will constantly send reminders, updates, tweets … I hate that part of it. It’s kind of gross and you feel like a jerk always asking for money. But I just suck it up and hope to make something special funders can be proud to be a part of.
WATCH the trailer for Candler's film Hellion:
It’s always terrifying setting a goal. I always have such doubt we’ll make it. And inevitably we go over. I think because of that fear, I’m one of those people that will constantly send reminders, updates, tweets … I hate that part of it. It’s kind of gross and you feel like a jerk always asking for money. But I just suck it up and hope to make something special funders can be proud to be a part of.
WATCH the trailer for Candler's film Hellion:
Kat's film Black Metal screens again on January 23 and 24 as part of the Shorts Program 4. See the screening schedule and read more about her film in the Sundance Festival Guide.
About the filmmaker
Kat Candler's award winning films have screened at Sundance, the Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, SXSW, Slamdance, Florida Film Festival, Houston Museum of Modern Art, Chicago International Children's Film Festival, The National Institutes of Health and on PBS. Her teen thriller screenplay Love Me was produced by Dolphin Entertainment and Anchor Bay Films. She's currently in development on two feature films: the IFP Emerging Narrative participant, Nikki is a Punk Rocker, and the Sundance Creative Producing Lab participant, Hellion. Candler is a film Lecturer at the University of Texas.
Kat Candler's award winning films have screened at Sundance, the Los Angeles Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, SXSW, Slamdance, Florida Film Festival, Houston Museum of Modern Art, Chicago International Children's Film Festival, The National Institutes of Health and on PBS. Her teen thriller screenplay Love Me was produced by Dolphin Entertainment and Anchor Bay Films. She's currently in development on two feature films: the IFP Emerging Narrative participant, Nikki is a Punk Rocker, and the Sundance Creative Producing Lab participant, Hellion. Candler is a film Lecturer at the University of Texas.
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