About the film
In 1948, two fellow circus performers meet on the rocky, ocean shore.
Together, they share a transient moment of pain and longing,
which changes their lives forever.
You can find more information in our Electronic Press Kit.
New Gallery
Director's Statement
Three years ago, I found myself in a small, fishing village on the west coast of Ireland. I had hitchhiked in and somehow, could not bring myself to leave. Here, where the air always smelt of salt and grass, time did not exist, and I often wondered if any of us did either. I had spent the evening conversing in improvised song and walked three kilometers back to my lodgings with only the setting moon and rustling of cows as guides. It was as if I were wandering through a mythical world, a fairytale, a dream landscape, which could not possibly be real.
On the porch of the camp cabin, were empty bottles, stubbed candles, and the proprietor, Michael, strumming his guitar in the corner. The wood creaked under my feet; he looked up and motioned with his head for me to join. We drank in silence, his dark eyes flickering in the candlelight. A woman, Jane, came out and joined us; she chained smoked and watched us intently.
“I’ve been married ten years, today,” she said.
“Congratulations,” I responded. She stared at me and lit another cigarette.
“How old are you?” Her voice was deep and hard, her skin aged too soon, her gaze relentless. I grew increasingly uncomfortable, as her words hung in the falling dew. I suddenly realized I had said something wrong, but I didn’t know why.
“Ten years, and I can’t find him anywhere,” she continued, looking back and forth between Michael and me.
He quit playing. She smoked more. He swirled his vodka in a star, speckled glass. Finally, she rose and left, and he paused a moment, before muttering, “He’s out back in my tent.” He stared at me with a deep knowing in his eyes, a knowing I could not understand. I was confused. It was as if Jane and Michael had a silent conversation, to which I was not permitted to be privy.
I would spend the next three years trying to illuminate what had not been said that evening, trying to discover exactly what stories and emotions had been hiding in their haunted eyes. Since Ireland, I have fallen in and out of love. I have lost pieces of myself I will never be able to resurrect. But, it was not until I stood on the colossal rocks in Northern Maine, the rocks where we would soon shoot Grey Lands, that I finally understood what had been just beyond my reach. I saw Jane and Michael. I felt them. I knew them, or rather, I knew a reflection of them, as they had grown in me.
This is a film about loss. It’s about losing yourself physically and emotionally in space and time, about losing something that may never have existed. It is also a film about wanderers and about how one moment, one small interaction, can change your life irrevocably. And, I believe, this is a film about the truth. Or perhaps, a truth, an exploration into time and what it means to be alive.
Creative Team
Please, click on crew and cast names for biographies.
Filmmakers
Written, Directed and Produced by.........Brigitte Berman
Produced by..............................................Arthur Lacomblez
Cinematography by..................................Antoine Combelles
Production Design by...............................Susan Moon
Sound Design by.......................................Maxwell Chamberlin
Cast
Jane...........................................................Wenonah Wildblood
Michael.....................................................Jake Satterfield
Michael's Lover........................................Sydney Haslam
Contact
For any inquiries, please feel free to contact the Grey Lands team through the following form or via email at info@greylandsfilm.com.
An electronic press kit is available here: Press Kit.