Set among the sparse landscape of an isolated farming community in Canada, four adolescent girls band together to escape their desolate lives.
By reclaiming an abandoned farmhouse as their own, they form an intense and obsessive bond that leads them to a dark place where their innermost fears and desires destroy their only safe place.
Showcased in the World of Cinema section of the 53rd International Film Festival of India, The Young Arsonists directed by Canadian visual artist Sheila Pye gives a glimpse into the ways these girls manifest their desperation into a collective rebirth.
Speaking at the media and delegates interaction organised by PIB at IFFI 53, the director of the film Sheila Pye said that the story drew a lot of inspiration from her childhood and most of the characters are derived from real people she knew in her life.
About the abandoned farmhouse imagery used in the film, Sheila Pye said that as a child her hobby was breaking into abandoned homes in the countryside.
“I like to experience that feeling of fear, excitement and wonder and like exploring places. My first short film was made when I was 18, and I broke into an abandoned house with a tripod to shoot the footage. These sorts of experiences would have contributed a lot towards the unconscious inspiration for my films,” she added.
Shiela Pye also acknowledged that a lot of her visual artwork is inspired by Canadian Gothic literature. She further said that the style might have seeped into her films instinctively.
Responding to queries, she said that economic realities form a part of the life of the main protagonists.
The girl characters in the film, who escape to a farmhouse from the myriad problems in their lives, are haunted by conflicts as if there is no escape from their burdens.
The “young arsonists” in the end also set fire to the safe house which they considered their fiefdom.
Is there no scope for a bit more hope or optimism in the world? Well, according to Sheila Pye, the visual metaphor of fire used in the film is not a destructive force, but an element which purifies the overburdened and sorrowful life.
“When the protagonist burns down the house in the end, I didn’t intend to show it as a negative thing, but a positive thing. She finally finds freedom, faces reality and is ready to move on. Life is full of necessary contrasts. I don’t want to have a necessarily happy or sad ending for my film. I did see a lot of hope,” she described.
About having brought the mastery of the visual arts into the film, Shiela Pye responded that even before writing the script, she assigned her main characters particular colours such as red, yellow, blue and green.
“And it became my focus to start scrutinising the girls,” she elaborated.
On the transition from short films to feature films, she said that the process was interesting, challenging and incredible.
Agatha Del Sorbo, the producer of the film, informed us that after IFFI, The Young Arsonists will be screened at the Cairo Film Festival.
The Young Arsonists, which had its Asian premiere at IFFI 53 earlier, had the film’s World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2022.
