Demi: Two Years In The Making
Our first feature film will have its London screening next month. We took a look back at the past two years in which the LGBT independent (and now award winning) film was made...
September 2014
Caris Rianne completes the script for the film. An amalgamation of three short stories, she approaches actress Hannah Bury from her previous short film Coming Home with the project and the role of Demi is cast first. Whilst working at the 2014 Raindance Film Festival she meets Eva Edmondo who becomes her Assistant Director for the film.
October 2014
Casting for the film begins. Rianne brings back Jayde Manning from her two previous short films Why Are You Sad and Coming Home and casts the other nine roles with new and upcoming actors. Lead actress Kerenza Qayum lands her first feature film role as the bisexual teen Dianna, pre production begins after a cast meet up at the BFI.
Sonya Creme, Effy Willis, Hannah Bury, Kerenza Qayum, Eva Crawford, Jodie Miller, Jayde Manning, Elinor O'Leary and Hayley Wilson.
November 2014
Filming begins. Day one gets off to an unsuccessful start as the location suffers from sound issues as a children’s party occurs next door. In the final cut of the film, six seconds from the first day of shooting are actually used.
Hannah Bury, Sarah Fitzgerald, Sonya Creme, Michael Chubb, Elinor O'Leary, Eva Edmondo, Max C Klein and Georgia Williams.
Filming continues in Essex and London, however due to location restrictions and ongoing sound issues additional shooting days are scheduled for January.
Jayde Manning, Kerenza Qayum, Eva Crawford, Caris Rianne, Jodie Miller, Elinor O'Leary and Effy Willis.
Michael Chubb and Joe Wakelin
January 2015
The team are back out in the cold to complete the film. Three weekends of successful shoots bring the filming to completion.
Hannah Bury, Michael Chubb, Eva Edmondo, Kerenza Qayum and Charlotte O'Driscoll.
Kerenza Qayum, Hannah Bury, Charlotte O'Driscoll, Michael Chubb and Caris Rianne.
The cast and crew celebrate the completion at the wrap party in London where they present director Caris Rianne with a gift.
Joe Wakelin and Hayley Wilson
Caris Rianne
February 2015
Editing the film begins for Caris Rianne with some time for promotion at the BFI Future Film Festival with actresses Kerenza Qayum, Hannah Bury and Eva Crawford.
Kerenza Qayum, Hannah Bury, Caris Rianne and Eva Crawford.
March 2015
To raise money for film festival submission fees, Rianne sets up a funding campaign on Indiegogo with campaign leader Phoebe Worley. Unity Hodges creates a poster to help promote the campaign and the cast take to the BFI London LGBT Film Festival to raise awareness of the campaign.
Hannah Bury, Effy Willis, Kerenza Qayum, Eva Crawford, Caris Rianne, Hayley Wilson and Sammi Preece.
Promotional poster designed by Unity Hodges
April 2015
The Indiegogo campaign raises £1760 out of the £2000 target! The cast celebrate at the 2015 Raindance Filmmakers Ball. Lauren McGeough the composer of the music behind Rianne Picture’s previous shorts Sister and Why Are You Sad begins work on the Demi score.
Hayley Wilson, Kerenza Qayum, Eva Crawford and Hannah Bury.
May 2015
With the editing and soundtrack completed, Toby Campen and Adam Ratcliffe begin work on the sound mix, with some ADR recording added in completion is nearing.
Toby Campen's studio
Kerenza Qayum and Hannah Bury
August 2015
Thanks to the Indiegogo campaign, Interns based remotely around the world begin researching film festivals and putting together a plan for Demi to enter the film festival circuit.
September 2015
After a year, the film is complete! Sent to fifty film festivals around the world, the wait for judging status begins
Caris Rianne
March 2016
Six months later the wait is over as Demi gets into Florida Movie Festival, it’s first festival. The film is praised for it’s realistic writing and passionate story telling.
April 2016
A month later another festival welcomes the film into it’s selection, however this time it wins an award. Demi gets into Canadian International and wins the Royal Reel award.
July 2016
Demi gets into the Swedish International Film Festival, its third film festival selection and receives four star reviews praising the script.
August 2016
Demi makes the selection for the New Jersey Golden Door Film Festival as part of the LGBT strand, the festival will take place in September 2016 marking the second US film festival for Demi and fourth in total.
September 2016
Two years after the journey of Demi began, Rianne Pictures will hold a London screening at Hackney Picturehouse Attic. Where cast, crew and people who have followed the film will come together to watch and celebrate the progress of our first feature. For details on how you can attend the event, contact info@riannepictures.com
