Twisted Tales

Twisted Tales is a collection of short films that take traditional fairy tales and add a twist – often more than one.   Some of the tales are famous like Cinderella and Little Ridinghood, and some of them are less well known such as Mother Hulde and The Blue Light, but all are retold with a twist in this entertaining new production.  The films are in various stages of completion.

Visit the Twisted Tales Gallery  for more photos!

Charming

Original Tale:  Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast

Twist:  After the Happily Ever After

Most fairy tales end with Happily Ever After, but everyone knows life isn’t really like that. Also Prince Charming appears in a lot of Fairy Tales.

Twisted Tales’ take on this, written by Eleanore Stasheff, is four fairy tale princesses getting together for a picnic years after they are married.  Snow White, Cinderella, Briar Rose, and Belle talk about their lives and three of them discover their absent husbands have a lot in common.  The twist is not a new one, but it’s told in a fun new way.

Cast:

Snow White – Rachel Anderson

Belle – Brittany Ann Whalen

Cinderella – Syndi Eller

Briar Rose – Rachel Zoralee

Prince Charming – Kevin Meyer

Crew:

Writer/Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Rachel Zoralee

Cinderella

Original Tale:  Cinderella by Charles Perrault

Twist: Gender switching

           Most people are familiar with the original tale of Cinderella: a wicked step mother and step sisters, a beautiful girl treated like a servant who goes to a ball with help from her Fairy Godmother and meets and marries Prince Charming. 

            Twisted Tales’ version, written by Kate Weber, reverses most of the genders and sets up Cinderella as not being a servant, but working on a family farm and being happy and content with her lot in life – going to a ball and marrying a prince is the last thing on her mind.

Cast:

Cinderella –Antatia Powers

Princess Charlotte – Bri Arnold

The Godfather – Roger Clements

Crew:

Writer: Kate Weber

Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Zan Powers

Check out the production diary for behind-the-scenes info and footage!

 The Devil & Kitta Gray

Original Tale:  Legends of Kitta Gray, Swedish Folktales

Twist: Different Setting – Modern Day
          Serialized adventure           

           There are a lot of folktales about people tricking the Devil, but the tales of Kitta Gray are unique because she challenges the Devil not to get out of a deal with him, but just so she can say she beat him.  She not only beats him, she tricks him more than once and people start coming to her for help. The other unique thing about Kitta Gray is that she is not the beautiful young heroine found in most folktales, she is in fact an ugly old crone.

Twisted Tales’ version, written by Eleanore Stasheff, sets the tale in the modern world and in a way picks up where the folktales end.  Kitta Gray (younger and prettier, but still not conventionally pretty) suffers from the sin of pride once she wins bragging rights on beating the Devil, and the only way to redeem herself is to help people get out of deals with the Devil.  The format is almost an introduction to a series of short films or a TV show.

Cast:

Kitta Gray – Rachel Zoralee

The Devil – Tanino Minneci

Chris – Kevin Meyer

Woman in Cafe – Brittany Ann Whalen

Crew:

Writer/Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Brittany Ann Whalen

Check out the production diary for behind-the-scenes info and footage!

Hulde

Original Tale:  Mother Hudla by The Brothers Grimm

Twist: Different Setting – Modern Day

            The original tale features a wicked stepmother, a lazy step sister, and a hardworking heroine who chases a spindle down a magic well and meets Mother Hulde, a magical being who puts her to work as a servant but sends her home again with an apron full of gold.  When the lazy sister tries to repeat the adventure she is sent home covered in pitch.

            Twisted Tales’ version, written by Diana Neatrour, sets the tale in modern day and celebrates the idea that completing a task isn’t just about working hard, it’s about being smart.

Cast:

Amelia – Julia Mayfair

Dawn – Annamarie MacLeod

Hulde – Jacob MacLeod

Adventurer – T. Jones

Crew:

Writer: Diana Neatrour

Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Director of Photography: Andrew Heller

Assistant Director: James McKinley

Check out the Survivors' Club for Hulde and find out what it was like to film in a blizzard!

Little Red 

Original Tale:  Little Red Ridinghood by The Brothers Grimm

Twist: Different Setting – Modern Day

            There have been many retellings of Little Red Riding Hood with different twists to the basic plot of a girl getting led astray by a wolf and either being eaten by the wolf or saved by a hunter/woodsman.

            Twisted Tales’ version, written by Eleanore Stasheff, sets the tale in the modern world where innocent Red is led astray by an escaped convict and her only hope lies in the bounty hunter who is tracking him down.            

Cast:

Sarah – Brittany Ann Whalen

Conner – Kevin Meyer

Chase – Syndi Eller

Crew:

Writer/Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Syndi Eller

Magic, Inc.
(part 2)

Original Tale:  Cinderella by Charles Perrault

Twist: Serialized adventure and Different Setting – Modern Day

Not all versions of Cinderella have a Fairy Godmother, so where did she come from?  How does one get a Fairy Godmother and more importantly how does one become a Fairy Godmother?

Twisted Tales’ take on this, written by Eleanore Stasheff, is an apparently ordinary woman gets a new job as a Fairy Godmother and, assuming it’s an acting gig, is unprepared for the new world of magic she discovers.  In her first assignment she has to help a modern Cinderella get the man of her dreams. The format is almost an introduction to a series of short films or a TV show.

Cast:

Felicity Dunwell – Annamarie MacLeod

Kendra Mortison – Katherine Lamb

Cindy Lou – Virginia McCreary

Crew:

Writer/Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Diana Neatrour

The Stranger

Original Tale:  The Stranger Child, a Legend by Count Franz Pocci

Twist: Different Setting – Modern Day

           Gender/Character Switching

        There are many myths and folktales about the kindness of strangers. The
Stranger Child is a German legend about a poor woodcutter and his family (wife
and two kids) who have very little. On Christmas Eve a mysterious child shows
up at their door, begging for food and a place to stay. They welcome the child and share their food with him and the children give their bed to him. In the middle
of the night the children are woken up by a strange light. The visiting child
reveals himself as the Christ child and angels arrive outside and herald him. He 
promises to reward the family for their kindness.

      Twisted Tales’ version, written by Eleanore Stasheff, sets the tale in modern day, with a father and daughter, and changes the stranger from the Christ child to his mother Mary.

                                         Cast:

Sarah Johnson – Virginia McCreary

Mike Johnson – Mark MacLeod

Mary Jones – Annamarie MacLeod

                                         Crew:

Writer/Director: Eleanore Stasheff

Assistant Director: Jen Weber

Production Assistant: Julia Mayfair

Short Films - 1997-1999

The first short films made by SFF were filmed between 1997 and 1999 as class projects.  The two were for a Studio Production Class and a Field Production class, both at Parkland College, and the final two were for a Film Production class at SIUC.

Visit the Short Films Gallery for more photos.

Trojan Women

A scene adapted from the play The Trojan Women by Euripides. Hecuba, Queen of Troy, confronts Helen of Troy and her husband Menelaus after the fall of Troy. Filmed live in the Parkland College Television studio.

Date Completed: 1997

Cast:

Hecuba — Annamarie MacLeod

Menelaus — Chris Hutchens

Helen of Troy — Morgan Diektus

Adapted and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

Check out the production diary for behind-the-scenes info!

Nightmares

A nightmare montage, based on the sequence in Destiny II, reedited for a class project.

Date Completed: 1998

Cast:

Sleeping Man — Tanino Minneci

Queen — Annamarie MacLeod

Murderer — Jacob MacLeod

Face in Mirror — Jen Weber

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

Day Dreams

A young woman’s dream takes her into a magical garden where statues come to life, but will she wake up or stay in the dream forever? Shot and edited in 8mm film.

Date Completed: 1999

Cast:

Dreamer — Kali Smith

Living Statue — Jacob MacLeod

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

 The Long Take

A silent film studio set where the last take takes forever. Shot and edited in 8mm film.

Date Completed: 1999

Cast:

Hero — Ryan Segovich

Villain — Chris Hutchens

Princess — Margaret Olson

Director — Genevieve Stasheff

Grip 2 — Virginia McCreary

                          Grip 1 — Kali Smith

                          Grip 3 — Isobel Stasheff

                           Grip 4 — Chris Stasheff

                           Camera Operator — Dave King

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

Check out the production diary for behind-the-scenes info!

Ask the Actors - Favorite Costumes

Here at Sine Fine Films we don't have much to make us stand out beyond our talented actors and fun scripts - no fancy equipment, no custom designed sets, etc.  


But we do have access to a butt load of awesome costumes and over the years the actors have worn everything from the ordinary (often their own clothes) to the elegant to the seriously bizarre. 

Morgan Thomas and Brittany Ann Whalen
in three different costumes from various episodes of Eidolon

Recently I asked the actors in the Sine Fine Group on Facebook to answer me this question:

What was your favorite costume that

you've ever worn in an SFF production?

Short Films - 2011-2013

These short films were produced after 2010 and unlike Twisted Tales and Fortunate Ones, they are stand alone shorts. 

Visit the Short Films Gallery for more photos.

Ghosts at Play

(in Post-Production)

A sad story of a mother thinking about her children who died in a tragic accident, and the ghosts that still linger in the backyard.

Date Filmed: 2011

Cast:

Mother — Genevieve Graaf

                         Little Girl — Grace Graaf

                         Little Boy — Henry Graaf

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

Goddess Anonymous

Every goddess is immortal, but not every goddess is well known. Take a glimpse into the world of the less-remembered and nearly forgotten goddesses who get together once a week at a support group.

Date Filmed: 2012

Cast:

Fulla — Rachel Anderson

Uni — Syndi Eller

Angerona — Nina Samii

Anat — Jen Weber

Nehalennia — Brittany Ann Whalen

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

C²

Courtney and Caden Caldwell are sisters, and the best bounty hunters in the Criminally Cute Division of the Erinyes Agency - an organization that polices the mythic and folkloric communities.  Their target is Kasimir - a crazy and eccentric Leshy. 

Date Filmed: 2012

Cast:

Courtney — Brittany Ann Whalen

Caden — Syndi Eller

Kasimir - Dan Zangerl

Written and Directed by Eleanore Stasheff

Mary Contrary

When Mary gets a letter in the mail offering her a job in London, she has mixed feelings about accepting it. That's when the different parts of her personality decide to offer their advice.

 Date Filmed: 2013

Cast:

Mary - Jen Weber

Written by Kate Weber
Directed by Eleanore Stasheff