Award Winning Actress and Filmmaker Emily Haigh joins Writer Alon Young to make Social Horror film PATRON

PATRON is a social horror in the vein of Stepford Wives and Get Out, that builds to a wild, abstract and Lynchian climax.

Award Winning Actress and Filmmaker Emily Haigh and Writer Alon Young have today launched the indieGOGO Campaign for Social Horror PATRON!

Her dream job just became her worst nightmare....

Synopsis
Vickie Black is young and hungry, though working as a maid in London, she has her sights set far higher...

After successfully landing an interview for a prestigious job at an age-old, unscrupulous organisation it looks like Vickie might be on the verge of hitting the big time.

Vickie goes in positive, but the questions from her faceless male interviewers soon become predatory, the atmosphere growing more awkward and uncomfortable by the minute.

As the interview takes its toll, Vickie reaches breaking point, if her spirit is to survive this encounter she must UNDERGO AN ABSTRACT AND RADICAL PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION.

The Project
Last year, a wide ranging culture of sexual harassment against both men and women was exposed to the public. It came as a shock to some, to others - relief, as they could finally have their stories heard.

PATRON is a female-centric film, with a female lead, and will therefore be brought to you by a female-led crew, including co-director, producer and cinematographer, with more announcements coming soon.

In order to truly engage our audience, the aim of PATRON is to tell a topical tale, but not in the way people would expect, which is why we have chosen to make this story a genre piece and put a real emphasis on innovative visual design... We want to evoke a palpably dreamlike intensity to this short - because dreams challenge us, are hard to escape from and can linger in our minds long after we've awoken.

As such, the lighting and cinematography will take their inspiration from surrealist paintings - bringing an OTHERWORLDLY NATURE to the shots and enhancing the emotional and nightmarish qualities of this piece.

Emily and Alon are also seeking to push the envelope with VFX and are already working closely with a visual effects artist to achieve a digital manipulation of the film's subject which will amplify the tensions and themes of the story.

So, with its unique genre, aesthetic and VFX, they feel PATRON will add an important and original voice to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, keeping this social issue at the forefront of the public's mind.

Emily and Alon have just launched an indieGOGO Campaign and hope with support they will be able to bring PATRON to the screen.

The Team
PATRON was written by Alon Young who will also be co-directing with Emily Haigh. As a former high school teacher Alon taught in deprived inner city areas and is keen on tackling projects which carry strong social messages and that are backed up by a diverse cast and crew.

Alon's cinematic influences include Kubrick, Kurosawa and Lynch, as well as many classical artists, but he is keen to push the medium forward, trying new cinematic techniques to enhance the themes and drama of his films.

PATRON marks the first of his "Voices" trilogy of shorts - each of which aim to tackle a relevant social theme and will utilise innovative VFX and sound design.

Emily Haigh joins as Producer and Co-Director. Emily has won numerous awards for both acting and filmmaking, she was recently awarded the ‘One To Watch’ at the Unrestricted View Film Festival. Emily has recently completed her third short film as writer/director/producer, “Beautified” which has already picked up awards including Best Short Film and Best Producer; she is very excited to be working with some of the same team which have joined PATRON. Emily co-produced “The Inuring”, where she also played the lead, and “The Velvet Abstract” where she attached Tobias Menzies as narrator.

After reading PATRON’s screenplay, Emily was delighted to join as she focuses on strong female-driven stories.

There has been overwhelming interest in PATRON and received nearly 1000 applicants and will be posting more casting announcements soon.

The wonderful Devora Wilde will play Vickie Black. Devora is a Bulgarian-born actress who grew up in England. After gaining a first class English Literature degree from The University of Warwick and going on to study for a Masters in Fashion Journalism at The London College of Fashion, Devora decided to pursue her love of acting and accepted a place on the Postgraduate Acting Course at Drama Studio London. She landed her first role in Ron Howard's "Rush," and has recently shot "The Dare" (Millennium Films), as well as lead roles in "The Tombs: Rise of the Damned" (Templeheart Films) and Sky's "999: Killer on the Line" (Thumbs Up Productions). Short film "A Precious Life," in which Devora played one of the titular characters, premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Devora is a Grade 5 piano player and singer, and is fluent in English, Bulgarian and Russian. She runs her own theatre company, Black Cat Theatre, with her business partner Alex Di Cuffa, through which they organise their hugely popular night of new writing, "The Millennials." So far, the show has been on at The Courtyard, The Southwark Playhouse and The Pleasance Islington. Devora continues her acting training at the world-renowned Anthony Meindl Actors Workshop in London.

The talented Jamie Lee-Hill will be playing ’The Interviewer’. Jamie was handpicked by Oscar nominated director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) to play the Part of Laban Tall in Far From the Madding Crowd alongside Carey Mulligan. In 2016 he appeared on BBC2 in three episodes of The Hollow Crown together with Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as doubling for Benedict. Jamie trained at Dorset School of Acting. He is a versatile actor who started in theatre and now works predominantly in film and television. Known for committing roles with emotional intensity, stage work includes a nomination for Best Actor at the New Forest Drama Festival for playing Horst in Martin Sherman’s Bent, and performances at the prestigious Poole Lighthouse in A Streetcar Named Desire. He appears alongside Bonnie Wright (Harry Potter’s Ginny Weasley) in the children’s film “Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg?” The movie made the official selection of the BFI at the London Film Festival. Jamie has over thirty film credits, several for independent feature films, one of the most recent being World War One drama Eleven which is due for a cinema release on the centenary of the war’s end. Jamie won best actor recently at the Creation International Film Festival in Toronto for Flawless. Jamie co-produced and acted in the similarly named Faithless, starring Sean Gilder, and several other established British screen actors. The film was very well received when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and it is now being developed into a television series. Recently he played a Stasi surveillance officer in a cold war thriller, Cheating Charlie, set in Berlin in the 1960s. Jamie has been booked for several further feature films including lead roles.

We have an amazing team joining, including Cinematographer Beatriz Delgado Mena. Originally from Spain and now based in London. Beatriz brings a wealth of experience and worked with Emily on the award winning short film “Beautified”. Beatriz has also been the cinematographer on three feature films, two of which have been distributed by Sony Pictures.​

Support PATRON at indieGOGO and find PATRON on IMDb, Facebook and Twitter. and find Emily Haigh on Facebook and Twitter and Alon Young on Twitter.