Joe Wright's galaxy of puppetry

One of the fun things about branded pieces is that they often allow filmmakers to indulge their flights of fancy... be it for good or bad.

Thankfully, Princess & Peppernose, a joyous piece from RSA's Joe Wright shot entirely on a Samsung Galaxy device, fits firmly into the former camp - merging dance, song and exuberant puppetry whilst telling an unusual love story.

Filmed at the medieval Restormel Castle in Cornwall, the 20-minute short is deliberately (and deliciously) odd; full of cinematic flourishes from Wright’s regular collaborator and Academy Award-nominated DoP Seamus McGarvey, and in collaboration with members of theatre company Kneehigh.

“My parents ran and founded the first dedicated puppet theatre in the UK, and I’ve never made a film with any puppets in it so I thought this was the perfect opportunity to return to those roots and explore what that might be like,” said Wright.  

“We’ve had great experimental fun making it, working with shadow play, puppetry and the simplest of moving lights” added McGarvey. “It’s very much back to the filmmaking that I started off doing with a Super 8.”