Saturday Night Butch - Finding them

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LOGLINE

In Saturday Night Butch, two Queer filmmakers struggle to find their community and learn their history, in the midst of the Lesbian Renaissance. In an attempt to find their peers, they search libraries and nightclubs, converse with queer academics and photographers about the origins of Saturday night Butches. This documentary explores the lack of Lesbian spaces, a general sense of Lesbian loss, and the community’s longing to exist in their own world. 

OUR DOCUMENTARY AND VISION

“Understanding the bigger history through personal narratives.”

Saturday Night Butch is a short documentary exploring the Butch experience across generations; highlighting the importance of Lesbian spaces, their disappearance and the effect this has had on the community. The film will focus on the contrast between the welcoming Nightlife Scene and an unwelcoming work space, leading to a ‘double life’ for some Saturday Night Butches.

The film will be a stylised, journey documentary. Drawing on our strong background in fiction filmmaking, the film will immerse the audience to understand the perspective of Saturday Night Butches. This will be achieved through intimate interviews and visual storytelling to reflect these experiences.

THE STYLE

We will be drawing on fiction and documentary films such as The Watermelon Woman, Jane B by Agnes V and Paris is Burning. The unusual way Jane B by Agnes V bridges documentary with fiction filmmaking techniques is a huge inspiration for Saturday Night Butch - for example: painting a portrait of a real person through theatrical sequences to better understand them.

The ‘Saturday’ Night parts of our documentary will be fluid, colourful and welcoming - representing the nature of the Lesbian community. While the ‘Weekday’ parts will be cold and awkward, similar to how Saturday Night Butches would’ve experienced the working week.

WHY 'SATURDAY NIGHT BUTCH'? 

There is little to no digital media about the Saturday Night Butch history and we think this is a crucial part of Lesbian history that needs to be heard.

This is the perfect time to make Saturday Night Butch with the rise of Lesbian representation in the mainstream media through reality TV shows and pop-singers. We want to jump on this wave and tell another important Queer story.

MOODBOARD

OUR CONTRIBUTORS

We will be interviewing various Butch Lesbians, of different age groups, across the UK, to talk about their experiences being Butch presenting in a heterosexual world. How has this societal need impacted the Lesbian community across different generations? This is what we will be exploring through our contributors. 

WHY WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT? 

There are few films about Lesbians, due to the lack of funding from production companies, especially when they don’t appeal to the male gaze. This is why we need support from the community, to bring forward stories that have been left untold. 

Pre-production: We will be traveling to meet Lesbians across the UK! First, for location and interview recess, second for filming days. This will be the main element of the budget, as it will be costly, but definitely worth it! 

Equipment and crew: We have access to industry-standard equipment (camera, sound, edit suite, colour grading suite) through our university, which means we won’t be covering fees for it and are able to put the budget towards the rest of the production. The same goes for most of the crew, as we are all university students in our final year (please refer to “Meet the Team” section, to see all the amazing projects we have done to prepare for this project). 

Music: We will be hiring an established, industry composer to design original music for the documentary. This will bring another layer of professionalism and depth to the film. 

Marketing and festivals: More and more, festivals are looking to screen queer films, which is why we strongly believe in the future of this film. However, festival entry fees are costly, which is why we are setting aside another important part of the budget to cover those fees. We will also be hiring a professional graphic designer, who we have worked with on our other projects, to design the poster of the documentary. 

PRODUCTION TIMELINE

Pre-production has already begun and will end at the beginning of January.

We will start production by the middle of January, until the end of March. For a documentary, it is difficult to set specific dates, as we can’t exactly know where our research and networking will lead us. 

As this project is made within our university degree, the submission deadline is set on the 9th of May. We will then submit the film to festivals, which we will have chosen beforehand, and wait for their answers! The rest is a matter of waiting before releasing the film, as most festivals request exclusivity on the premiering of the film. After Saturday Night Butch has been screened at festivals, we will officially release it! 

MEET THE TEAM

Producer - Lisa-Marie Soulier 

Lisa-Marie is a Lesbian film producer passionate about telling Queer women’s stories. Originally from France, she moved to Montreal (Canada) and grew up in its very Queer and creative environment, which inspired her professional practices. She started her filmmaking career at Dawson College, and moved to Cambridge, UK, to further her studies at Anglia Ruskin University. 

She has produced short films, advert, and music videos for various clients since 2022, such as The Shakespeare’s Globe, The Imperial War Museum, Girlband Cambridge, and Brook Clinic through Kodak (to be filmed early 2025). She has also produced and created a multitude of short-fictions and short-documentaries for her Film and TV Production course at Anglia Ruskin University. She will be pursuing a career as a film producer, focusing on her community. 

Director - Claudia Vogt

Claudia is a writer and director from Dorset, UK. She began her filmmaking studies practice aged 16 and has directed many short films since, through which she has developed her personal directing style. Now, she is in her final year at Anglia Ruskin University studying Film Production and hopes to continue creating work focused on women and LGBTQ+ stories after graduating.

She has directed short films for a variety of clients since 2022, including Shakespeare’s Globe and the Imperial War Museum. This has allowed Claudia to hone her skills in working to a specific brief and has provided her with a wider platform for her work.

DoP - Diana Franco 

Diana Franco is a dedicated film production student with a passion for camera and lighting. She began her journey in film at West Suffolk College before continuing her studies at Anglia Ruskin University, where she not only created her own short films but also collaborated with peers on various projects. During this time Diana has had the opportunity to work on films for institutions such as the Imperial War Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum in both the camera and lighting department. She has also gained valuable hands-on experience and knowledge as a spark, working alongside professional gaffers and DoPs on short films across the UK.

Editor - Karina Bhojwani

Karina is a film editor from Hong Kong. From short drama and drama comedy films, to music videos and trailers, she’s able to adapt her editing style to each project she works on. She is a final year student on the Film Production course at Anglia Ruskin University. Karina aims to further develop her skills as an editor, hoping to pursue Fiction Editing after university. 

Outside of university, Karina is heavily involved with film festivals around Cambridge. Not only was she working closely to help bring the Cambridge Film Festival to life this year, but she is also the Head of Video Production at Watersprite Film Festival, the largest student film festival in the world. She has also been the editor for commissioned projects with the Imperial War Museum as well as worked as a videographer/editor for a multitude of brands in Hong Kong and in the UK. She is also involved with the Royal Television Society, planning and running the tech for their Student Awards, as well as working on other events they run.

REWARDS FOR BACKERS 

£15 - Short & Sweet: Receive a short & sweet thank you video from the director and producer

£15 - BTS: Get a glimpse into the behind the scenes of making a film with 10 fun BTS photos from our shoots

£20 - Your Name on the Big Screen: We will feature your name in the credits to show our appreciation for your support. 

£40 - Superb Poster: Receive a digital copy of our wonderful Saturday Night Butch poster!

£75 - Early to the Party: Get exclusive access to our film before anyone else.

£100 - Insight Into the Research: Receive a comprehensive look into the details and secrets of filmmaking, including: treatment, moodboard, storyboards, BTS photos, annotated production documents, testimonies from crew and contributors, poster drafts, research. 

£125 - Just like Hollywood: Come along to the Saturday Night Butch premiere!

£150 - Fancy Title: Behold the title of ‘Benefactor’ to show your utmost support for our project, as well as a link to the film before its release. 

£250 - The Ultimate Package: Receive all of the rewards above in our amazing ‘Ultimate Package Offer’.

£350 - Super social: Pick the brains of the creative leads of Saturday Night Butch in an exclusive hour-long conversation with them, in-person or online. 

£450 - Dinner With the Big Bosses: Enjoy a delightful dinner with the producer and director to hear about the ins and outs of production.

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

Capturing the complexity of the Butch Lesbian community through authentic but respectful images will be the main challenge of this production. Our passionate and dedicated team will make sure this documentary portrays the beautiful stories that need to be told, in a respectful environment. 

Another main risk is the possibility that the film, once ready to be “out there”, gets lost in a sea of content. This is why we will be keeping an important part of the budget for marketing and submitting to festivals. This way, we will make sure that Saturday Night Butch gets the attention it deserves. 

On a practical level, this production is very low risk, as we will be filming in safe, trusted locations. Saturday Night Butch is stories that need to be heard, a perspective that needs to be shown, a film that needs to be made. 

CONTACT US

Support and follow our journey on social media! 

Instagram - saturday.night.butch

Tiktok - saturday.night.butch

Email - [email protected]