In an isolated church community in the English countryside, a powerful hate preacher prepares to deliver a sermon to his flock, but his daughter has a secret that could destroy them all.

The Sermon is a short ‘Folk Horror’ dealing with sexuality, faith and oppression shot on 35mm film in the tradition of such films as 'The Wickerman' (Robin Hardy, 1973) , 'The Blood On Satan's Claw' ( Piers Haggard, 1971) & 'The Witchfinder General’ (Michael Reeves, 1968). These British films from the late Sixties and early Seventies that inspired me, have become known as the ‘Unholy Trinity’ and are characterized, in general, by isolated communities that have created their own societal rules often dominated by a strong male figure and ending with an explosive act of violence or a 'Happening'.

So the Sermon is not only meant to be an engaging drama about our protagonist Ella's secret life, but also a political fable which seeks to reflect, through metaphor, the current British and US socio-political climate. Written in a frustrated daze after the double whammy of Brexit and the Election of Donald Trump, the film is set in a kind of 'nowhere time', a parallel reality almost like a dream that could be in the past or perhaps, if we are not careful, our future.

A short Folk Horror shot on 35mm Film and backed by Creative England and the BFI.

Writer/Director: Dean Puckett, Producer: Rebecca Wolff, Cinematographer: Ian Forbes, Editor: Paco Sweetman, Music: Bizarre Rituals, Costume Designer: Oliver Cronk, Production Designer: Maisie Doherty, Sound Designer: Rob Szeliga

Full cast and crew - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt79...