CASSILDA’S SONG

SHOT IN 7 DA YS SMALL CREW PORTLAND, OR INDEPENDENTLY MADE

THE FILM

Cassilda's Song follows Cassie, a gifted but insecure art student who becomes obsessed with Sylvia, an enigmatic model whose presence seems to awaken something extraordinary in her work. What begins as creative admiration becomes intimacy, ritual, and obsession. As Cassie's art grows increasingly strange and symbolic, her desire to create something perfect begins to consume her.

THE IDEA

Inspired by Robert W . Chambers' The King in Yellow, the film is not an adaptation of any single story. It draws from the collection's broader themes of madness, art, sickness, and death while serving as a loose continuation of The Repairer of Reputations. At its center are contemporary anxieties about the hunger to be seen, the terror of being truly known, artistic immortality, intimacy, and the impossible pursuit of perfection.

WHY WE MADE IT

I've spent years making films independently, usually with a small group of artists and whatever resources we can find. With Cassilda's Song, we wanted to see how far that approach could be pushed. Rather than waiting for a studio, production company, or traditional financing to make the film we wanted to make, we simply made it ourselves. The entire 150-minute feature was shot in seven days with a small crew in and around Portland, Oregon. The limitations became part of the filmmaking process: locations, performers, music, visual art, and production design were built around the people and resources available to us.