THE FOLKLORE TRILOGY

I’ve often found myself exploring female characters in my work. These days I take inspiration from female archetypes in native folklore.

My investigation involves some of the earliest stories ever recorded in the British Isles. Female characters of great power - leaders, warriors, queens - who seem to have narrative roots in even earlier stories that were never written down, but passed down through the ages and learned by heart. Formidable females, with supernatural powers to shapeshift, make prophesy, who are immortal - traits that correspond with what is known about certain pagan goddesses. But these powerful women are often humiliated, denigrated and punished.  I’m interested in why our stories have for so long represented powerful female characters negatively.

Taking three of these characters, I’ve taken it upon myself to reimagine them with their powers restored, existing as real women in the present day. Perhaps the restoration might reinstate something of their awesomeness. Perhaps even illuminate some of that forgotten female potency that has been repressed so harshly for so long. I’m writing these stories to find out what happens when these archetypes are invited to inhabit characters living in the present day. I sometimes wonder what would happen if these archetypes somehow got inside women in real life. . .

A mysterious pregnancy after multiple miscarriages brings hope of a new life for Pryn.  

The first film of the Folklore Trilogy, Deer Woman Child is inspired by two female characters: Rhiannon - Otherworldly queen of Welsh folklore, and Sava a young woman of Irish folklore who was turned into a deer by magic.

FESTIVAL SCREENINGS

Completed in 2022, Deer Woman Child has been selected at film festivals including:

Liverpool International Film Festival Nov 6th 2022

Toronto Women’s Film Festival Feb 24th 2023

Worldwide Women’s Film Festival Arizona Feb 19th 2023

PRESS

INTERVIEWS WITH GABRIELLE RUSSELL

SET THE TAPE Jan 2023

 A former IRA operative faces the ghosts of her past in a final reckoning.

The second film in the Folklore Trilogy, The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan is inspired by the character of The Morrigan, Phantom Queen of Irish folklore, the bringer of war, terror and death.

 A fugitive young woman found half-dead in the forest is adopted into a women’s commune. But who is she and who are the strange men looking for her?

The Third film in the Folklore Trilogy, Run To Earth is inspired by the character of Blodeuedd, the beautiful, treacherous Flower Maiden of the Welsh Mabinogion.