SIGIL

HORROR / LGBTQ

USA / ENGLISH

111 MINUTES / COLOR

Despite being in a happy relationship with one another, Maeve and Bridget are falling apart. While Bridget's family is supportive of their relationship, Maeve's family won't even show up to her voice recitals anymore. This causes Maeve to spiral into depression and anxiety as the school semester comes to a close. In an effort to celebrate their anniversary, Bridget takes Maeve to a secluded rental home in the countryside. There Maeve finds a strange sigil on a tree just off the rental house's property. Maeve unknowingly makes a wish before the sigil that could give her all the love she's ever desired from her family, but at the cost of the person who loves her the most.

I never intentionally set out to write or make films about myself. It’s something that happens subconsciously during the process. Sigil is about a person who is desperate for love, and holds such a high standard for it, that they inevitably push away everyone who already loves them. Maeve is all the parts I hate about myself. I didn’t realize that until I watched the movie for the first time.

The film has LGBTQ themes. I found that when pitching this film to people, they were often more afraid of the concept of same sex relationships than the fact that Maeve must give pieces of her girlfriend to an evil witch. We live in an interesting world. My hope is that I can use the horror genre to equally represent couples like Maeve and Bridget, and offer a human perspective that enlightens and doesn’t condemn.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

Principal Cast

Karlee Mihailov as Maeve

Isabella Rodriguez as Bridget

Casey Notarianni as the Witch

Principal CREW

Directed by Jacob Perrett

Written by Jacob Perrett and Rhiannon Schwindt

Music by Brandon Maahs

FESTIVALS

Erie Horror Fest, 2023 Official Selection

Salem Horror Fest, 2024 Official Selection

Midsummer Scream Black Sunday Film Festival, 2024 Official Selection

Popcorn Frights Film Festival, 2024 Official Selection

Art BRUT STATEMENT

At its base, Sigil is a relationship movie that uses the presence of a witch to dramatize the inner turmoil of Maeve, who is tormented by her own anxieties and insecurities. I personally love movies that foreground performances – both the performances of the actors to the audience and the performances that the characters give each other onscreen. Sigil highlights both types. In the film, Maeve is caught between her own inner demons and the very real presence of her girlfriend – whom she seems to both want to draw closer and to push away. The film is full of dramatic irony, as Maeve chooses what to reveal to Bridget and what to hide, all the while probing and seeking assurance and security in her relationship.

As the story unfolds, the witch makes an appearance, seemingly the physical embodiment of Maeve’s mental and emotional distress. Is she real? Or is she only in Maeve’s head? Does it make any difference?

Using mental illness and witchcraft to explore the breakdown of a lesbian relationship is a choice fraught with peril, especially from a male director. In lesser hands, this could be exploitative. But here, Mr. Perrett is sensitive, and the actors breathe life into characters that create a believable relationship dynamic, one that is no doubt uncomfortably familiar (although hopefully not as bloody) to many in the audience. Indeed, the story is autobiographical at its emotional core as Mr. Perrett admits in his own Director’s Statement.

Who hasn’t felt the claustrophobia of a failing relationship as a young adult? Sigil is a striking dramatization of the pitfalls of this type of youthful love, and Art Brut is proud to share it with audiences.