Sylphvania Grove – A Young Girl Finds Her Courage in a Magical World

Mycena doesn’t fit in at school and her parents are never home, she finds refuge only in her books and fantasy stories, pushing away her caring babysitter, Kim. Once night has fallen and all the lights in the house are shut off, Mycena secretly sneaks under the blankets and begins to read again. A magical being pops out of her book, it beckons her to follow it into the woods where she will have to confront her fears to make a fantastic discovery.

Sylphvania Grove was born from a passion for the fantasy genre, a cruel lack of adventurous heroines to identify with during my childhood, and a burning desire to show that you can be quiet and still be a hero.

The tarnished reputation of fantasy and the lack of layered, character driven, original fantasy films made me want to remind audiences that rich, vibrant worlds and relatable characters can still make an exciting piece of entertainment and does not need to be cheesy or childish. I’m fascinated by the masks most of us wear to protect ourselves from the world and the way this hiding our true selves to to fit in can later to identity crises. With Sylphvania Grove, I wanted to explore the hardship of not wearing a mask and the journey to self discovery that comes with it. I chose a introverted, outcast and bookish type of character to illustrate how great this challenge can be and that the most unlikely person can be the most courageous. The use of fantasy allowed me to create exciting characters, use symbolism for a more visual style of storytelling, and tell a story that can be interpreted on different levels.