Thriller
Pre-Production
One to wed. One to war.
Twins in wartime Virginia are threatened with division by duty, until one binds them to a fate neither
can escape.
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At 18 years old, twin hunters Diana and Aidan are set on separate paths by their widowed father. Diana is to be married off to an older man, while Aidan must follow in his father's footsteps and join the war. Fifty Hounds follows the twins on their last day at home as Diana braces for her cage of domesticity and Aidan prepares for battle.
As their final hours slip away, the divide between duty and desire deepens. Both twins cling to the lives they must leave behind—Diana to her freedom, Aidan to his sister. When Diana sneaks into the forest for one last hunt, Aidan follows, driven by his fear of losing his twin. Under the darkness of night, he makes a choice that will tear them apart—and bind them together forever.
Nature has constantly been tied to figures of deep female power, such as Gaia, throughout history. Yet today women still face an ongoing struggle to assert independence and power over their bodies, art, and future. Inspired by the myths surrounding Artemis—a goddess defined by her demand for independence and untouched, virginal existence—Fifty Hounds explores what has been lost in the modern understanding of female power.
As a powerful agent of female choice, Artemis serves as the perfect focus for our exploration of the cages built around women in an attempt to control them. By weaving together myth and film, we aim to start greater conversations surrounding the necessity of female autonomy over one's future and body.
Fifty Hounds was born from my obsession with two Greek myths—Actaeon and Orion—both of which depict the sanctity and adoration surrounding the immortal, unattainable Diana, and the consequences that come with loving a wild woman. Set in a past period but urgent today, it asks:
Who decides your future? Who owns your body? What is the price of female freedom?
In our reality where those in power, under the guise of protection, force women back into cages they believed were long broken, this film becomes a warning… a spark. I am telling it now because the past is not past, and the myths we think we have outgrown are still being lived.
- Halle Skye