Flowers

Dumas Haddad directs ‘Flowers’.

Words from Dumas below.

You mention inversion and adaptation as techniques you have used to modernise tropes in ‘Flowers’. By sharing the starting point and process, could you highlight a key creative example?

DH: With both in mind at the inception of the film, a key approach was dissecting evident tropes within the genre that could be flipped whilst providing familiar structural elements.

BTS — Flowers

The exploration of ‘inversion’ highly informed the film’s entire approach; seeing our characters in distinctly designed costumes which avoided a ‘period’ feel, seeing the youngest in a family line being given away and this character being a Prince instead of the expected Princess.

A key approach was dissecting evident tropes within the genre that could be flipped whilst providing familiar structural elements.

You mention on Instagram that the film has been many years in the making and was “written during bleaker pastures”. I’m interested to ask if the film you eventually made has changed over time?

DH: Whilst the film’s core structural elements stayed intact, the story’s warmth and heart certainly propelled exceedingly further than its initial iteration, which became especially evident with the language of the poetry and style of performances. The core idea of journeying from leaving homely comfort and experiencing the world remained at the helm of the film.

On an aesthetic level when making design choices, could you share some of the foundational images or language you used to communicate with crew?

DH: Our initial foundations began by developing a lookbook and dissecting a host of classic Disney films, initially from the 30s and 50s, harnessing colour combinations & compositional elements we felt would serve as a base within our stories universe.

Foundations began by developing a lookbook and dissecting a host of classic Disney films.

BTS — Flowers

From there, we had a deep dive with our production designer and costume designer into real-world examples of colour tones, room patterns, props, textures, and costumes and created a secondary reference point of real-world aesthetics we simply adored and equally references of things we wanted to avoid within the film. This shared lookbook aided in creating a universal consciousness around the approach for the film.

What are you reading at the moment?

DH: I’m knee-deep in the book ‘Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe’.