Over a Bowl of Honey - Suspenseful Psychological Horror Short Film

In a world of magic, there are fates worse than death.

The Witch, a determined fugitive magician has just been captured by the Inquisitor; a morally ambiguous dispatch from the xenophobic Empire of Humanity. He has been sent with one job: Drive all magicians to extinction. But whilst The Witch soon realises her supernatural powers of self-regeneration are more a curse than a blessing in the dungeons of the Empire, the real question is why is the Inquisitor keeping her alive in the first place?

Directed, produced, and written by the Perth-based duo of Ned Holland and Reece Hauxby under their film business Baron Tragedi, 'Over a Bowl of Honey' explores its dark, unforgiving, and magical world all through one conversation, in one room... A world which we'd love your help to build.

The Creators

Ned Holland

My name is Ned. Well, actually it's Edward, but you can call me Ned. I have been playing music since I was 7, and have been a professional musician in Perth for the past 9 years on the trombone.

I studied at Perth Modern School before landing a spot at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts studying jazz for a year. I now play in many different bands all around Perth, including the Junkadelic Brass Band, the Steve Hensby band, and the Perth Marching Corps. 

My life pretty much consists of being charismatic on stage and performing to big crowds. I've always had a love for the arts. 5 years ago, I decided to change career path to film. I've always loved the fantastical feeling and escapism that movies provide. From here, I've been able to develop my skill-set and start a business without help from any educational institution. However, I have applied to study a Diploma of Screen and Media: Film and Television at North Metropolitan TAFE in 2020.

Reece Hauxby

This guy is the bacon to my eggs. The syrup to my pancakes. The bolognaise to my spaghetti. I think you get it. We work well together.

Reece Hauxby is a writer, photographer, and videographer. His passion for writing started at a young age. He even wrote and published his first novel at 15, and has since written dozens of award-winning poems and short stories. 

He started working as a fulltime event and nightclub photographer at 18, which served as an environment to hone his camera skills for guerrilla filmmaking. Nowadays he prefers working with fine art photography and pre-produced set-work to give himself time to appease his inner perfectionist, keeping his skills sharp with a steady stream of corporate filming and music videos. All of this experience, with keyboard and camera, lends itself perfectly to a career in the film industry. 

Together, Reece and I are Baron Tragedi; our own videography business. We went to the same highschool, but being in different years we only met properly at the Belgian Beer Cafe in Perth City after graduating. Once we got talking about film, we couldn't shut up. He had the gear, I had an idea, and that's all it took. 

We started getting jobs with my band Junkadelic, who hired us to put a video together for a very successful crowdfunding campaign to tour America.

We figured out that with my music-based skillset and his editing abilities that promotional videos for bands was a logical next step. We then moved into the world of corporate promo videos, and now, we have gone even further and created our own sets and filming locations for music videos.

All this work is leading up to a full feature film that Reece has written and perfected over the past 4 years, and making short films such as 'Over a Bowl of Honey' and music videos are excellent stepping stones towards this dream. We hope all of you can jump on board and see where this amazing field takes us.

The Actors

Marli van der Bijl (The Witch)

Marli has a Masters Degree in Drama & Theatre Arts from the University of the Free State, South Africa. She is always looking to broaden her stage and screen abilities, and finding ways to lend each to the other.

She's performed in over 25 theatre and musical theatre stage productions including 'Hairspray' (2012), 'Fame' (2013), and 'Hamlet' (2014).

She starred in the South African TV Soap, '7de Laan' as Maryke in 2017, and in 2013 was nominated for Best Actress and Best Newcomer at the Fiëstas National Theatre Awards (South Africa) for her character Maria in 'Putsonderwater'.

Her talent has taken her around the world, working backstage as company manager and assistant to the director in the Netherlands for the 2015 touring musical 'Spijt', and she has even sung on the Greek island of Corfu in the trio act Viva Las Divas in 2017. Quite the globetrotter. 

Marli has worked on music videos and short films too, including one she's most proud of; 'ERA', an adaptation of a stage play, and most recently 'True Reflection' (2019).
She may only be 5 foot 2, but she's a powerhouse of talent that exceeds measurement.

Blake Wintle (The Inquisitor)

On the complete other end of the height spectrum, we have Blake, who from an early age, was impersonating his friends, teachers, and celebrities. The class clown personality flowed freely through his veins, and with it, massive acting potential. He has always loved film, movies, cinema, and every other synonym associated with it.

This led him to start attending Lauren Johnson's Acting Classes in Perth, and has now been acting and loving it for nearly four years.

He's appeared in several short films, television commercials and feature films, such as 'The Heights' TV show on the ABC, 'Blackghost', and 'I Met A Girl'.

Blake has worked with professionals such as John Noble, Lauren Johnson, David Partridge, Chum Ehelepola, and Nadia Townsend, just to name a few.

He's always keen to try new things and push his abilities with challenging roles expanding on his versatility.

Pre-Production

COSTUME DESIGN

These characters are part of a wider world of mystical happenings and fantasy. You think they're just gonna wear a shirt and slacks? Guess again! We want to immerse you in this movie by making it seem genuine, starting with clothes made from the most genuine materials, and stylin' on every other fantasy character out there.

TITLES DESIGN 

We've enlisted the help of our good friend Samudra Bhattacharya at Ardumas Arts and his amazing pen to paper abilities to give this movie some flair. After all, these are the titles. This is what films are known by! Gotta make the most of it and stand out from the others. 

Post-Production

We plan on entering as many FILM FESTIVALS as we can to get our work out there and recognised. Some you can enter for free, but others require an entry fee. 

Some festivals we want to enter are:

Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal)

Fantastic Fest (Austin, Texas)

Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival

Screamfest (Hollywood, LA)

FlickerFest (Sydney)

+ many more

People to pay

The ACTORS are putting a lot of their time into learning their lines, attending rehearsals, being put into uncomfortable situations, and being on call for filming. Sounds like a regular job to me. Let's pay them fairly.

Our COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGNER (Mason) puts hard work into his projects. He is a genius. I've seen him at work in his incredible home studio which he built from the ground up and golly gosh does he do a good job. Plus his creative juices are always flowing (I should know, I've been in 2 bands with him.) Pay the man!

The MAKE-UP ARTISTS are going to make up (ahaha) a huge part of what makes this a horror. They perform very intricate procedures into making the characters look as real and immersive as possible. They're also gonna be looking at disgusting wounds and sores for a while. We thank them for their sacrifice. 

You'll never guess what the SOUND RECORDER does. All I can tell you is that it's vital to the making of a high-quality product. No one likes white noise.

Lights! Camera! Action! We have two of those things. The LIGHTING TECHNICIAN will be able to provide and help us with the third piece of the puzzle. The sun is great, but it just won't cut it. 

Overheads

CATERING

You ever skipped a meal? It sucks. I love eating, and I'm hoping all you love it too. Let's not keep our lovely crew's stomachs from what they want; to be full. 

TRANSPORT

None of us live together. We have to physically move our bodies from one place to another. We'll also be carting heavy equipment around during this time. Walking is nice and all, but from one side of Perth to the other? I don't think so. Fuel money will be greatly appreciated. 

THANK YOU!

Please consider donating to this film. It's through your support that film can thrive and you guys can escape the real world and just have fun for a while. 

You will be rewarded for your donations! See what's available. What calls to you? Maybe the film will suffice, or do you want a poster too? A Tshirt? Or even a random DVD!?

Digital rewards will be emailed and physical rewards posted to the provided address after the completion of the short film.

No matter what you get, you will have our gratitude.