bated breath

If you were on any horror-related websites yesterday (well, except this one), you may have caught wind that Jovanka Vuckovic has launched the website for her forthcoming short film The Captured Bird. The movie, a "dark fable about a little girl who has to face her own very literal demons after taking a wrong turn", has been been hailed by my brain as "something I cannot fucking wait to see".

As an avid fan of Jovanka's work at Rue Morgue Magazine and of...well, of Jovanka herself, I'd be practically salivating over seeing any one of her creations onscreen, but The Captured Bird looks to be an astonishing debut, an ambitious myth- and monster-filled fantasy to be executive produced by a man who knows more than a little about such things: Guillermo del Toro. “Jovanka's vision has been honed to perfection and combines true poetry with savage instinct,” says del Toro. “[It’s] lyrical and brutal. Just what the doctor ordered.”

Yeah, not a bad person to have on your team your first- or, hell...any time out. Jovanka's tenure at Rue Morgue put her in touch with innumerable horror luminaries, and now that she's becoming a filmmaker, she's got her own pep squad featuring the likes of George Romero and Stuart Gordon. Their support is evidenced by quotes that grace the film's website, and it's fantastic to see them so enthusiastic about...yeah, I'll say it: a horror film written and directed by a woman. Sure, we could rattle off a list of horror movies directed by women- some, like Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark and Mary Harron's American Psycho, are often cited as some of the genre's finest. But are there any women out there who could be considered (to use a hoity-toity term) dark auteurs? There are countless women making movies in the indie horror world. When talking about the genre's true heavy-hitters, the ones who conjure up images and feelings and memories at the mention of their names, the ones who have a style so personal that they essentially become their own genres ("a Dario Argento film", anyone?)...are there any women? Maybe. Maybe I just don't know who they are. Maybe in five years it'll be different and we'll have a list of names thanks to Jovanka and others of her ilk: the women who, as I said, are toiling away in the indie world to bring their visions to life (umm, not to put too much pressure on anyone, of course). In a perfect world of filmmaking, gender wouldn't matter. A woman wouldn't have to be called a "female director"- she could just be, you know, a director.

The Captured Bird's website promises to offer a wealth of information in the months leading up to the film's projected 2012 film festival tour, including interviews, a call for donations, an on-set live feed, and a blog from Vuckovic which will detail her journey as a burgeoning filmmaker. "Like" the movie on Facebook and follow it all on Twitter. Get excited for this, horror fans. I am.