SYDNEY — Director Kenny Foo and co-producer Bryan Fisher have begun production on their first feature film, 'Butterfly Dreams', a bold, independently produced Australian cosmic horror that explores the uneasy intersection of technology, perception, surveillance and reality.
Following their collaborations on 'COLDER', 'Corridor' and 'Slash', the pair are challenging the found-footage / screen-life genre through the claustrophobic intensity of digital surveillance. 'Butterfly Dreams' unfolds entirely through the lenses of devices — phones, webcams and social-media streams — for an un-intermediated POV experience in which even the actors operate their own cameras, collapsing the distance between performer, audience and narrative.
“Often, horror and suspense emerge from quiet spaces and the interior moments between actions,” says Foo. “There's something deeply relevant about the surveillance of devices — what they see, how they interpret us, and the realities they construct. We're using those same tools to tell a story about intrusion, identity and the blurred line between what's seen and what is real.”
The film centers on a group of young people who begin to notice anomalies in their day-to-day life, questioning how plausible those disruptions become when everyday life is mediated by devices constantly observing and recording. Fisher, an ABC editor with more than 15 years in screen production, notes that accessible technology has democratized filmmaking — “from Buster Keaton's sleight-of-hand illusions to the Daniels using mobile phones for effects shots in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'” — while also encroaching on privacy.
Foo, a self-taught filmmaker whose short 'The Goat' won Best Film at the 2025 Perfect Light Film Festival, writes and directs; Fisher produces, shoots and edits. Principal photography is in progress in Sydney.
