Mãe das Águas
Mother of the Waters
This first chapter shows how characters from distant lands become integral to the larger story, letting the feature move forward without pausing to justify their presence. It creates a narrative carried by atmosphere and character nuance, where imagery replaces exposition.
Prelude
The Broker's Journey
Yara, a siren, is captured by a Spanish merchant vessel carrying colonial rarities from Brazil and brought to a black-market broker. Taking control of her transport from the Venetian lagoon, crossing the eastern Alpine passes into Carinthia, and tracking north up the Mur valley to reach the Radstädter Tauern Pass, he chooses to bypass intermediaries to sell her directly to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, knowing the famously eccentric monarch maintains a court of mystics, alchemists, and astronomers, and pays lavishly for the rare and the obscure.
The Clandestine Transit
To keep rival syndicates and local magistrates in the dark, the caravan moves in absolute secrecy, bypassing official toll gates and garrison towns. But as a bitter cold locks onto the high limestone ridges, a halt to seek shelter from the freezing weather becomes unavoidable.
The Stopover at Moosham
Seeking an out-of-sight haven to rest the horses, the broker guides his party toward Moosham Castle, a grim, isolated fortress perched along the mountain route. He banks on a long-standing, dark friendship with the castle’s corrupt bailiff. Welcomed through the gates without friction or threat, the two men reunite within the fortress walls.
The Bailiff's Prior Acquisition
Unbeknownst to the broker, the bailiff has already detained an itinerant troupe. Under the guise of ecclesiastical justice, he confiscated their living property—and to his astonishment, found a genuine witch among them, unlike the coerced confessions and engineered verdicts of Moosham's infamous witch trials. He has already struck a back-channel deal to sell the captive to the emperor in Prague.
The Northern Convergence
At the Emperor's imperial court, the northern witch-queen Louhi, a trusted advisor to the monarch, learns that a witch has been offered to the crown from Moosham Castle. Suspecting it could be her missing daughter, Usvatar, she dispatches her deadly confidant, Tola, to investigate. Within the castle's stone walls, two mythic paths converge, and the boundary between history and myth begins to fade.
Characters
Yara
In Brazilian folklore, Yara is a water spirit, a beautiful yet dangerous siren who dwells in the rivers of the Amazon. Her name comes from the Tupi word îara, meaning “mother of the waters.” Yara embodies both nature’s allure and its vengeance, a guardian of the waters who punishes those who bring harm to her realm.
Louhi
In Finnish mythology and the Finnish epic, the Kalevala, Louhi is the witch-queen of Pohjola. She commands the weather, speaks with beasts, and can transform into a bird form to sweep across the dark northern skies. She is both feared and revered as a keeper of hidden power, guided by ancient wisdom and merciless resolve.
Locations
Moosham Castle: Salzburg, Austria
During the period in which this film is set, Moosham Castle was already conducting witch trials within its walls, laying the grim foundation for what would eventually become the official administrative center of the Salzburg Witch Trials. Here, the accused faced brutal interrogations and systematic torture, embedding its dark history into the story that shapes the film’s atmosphere.
Dachstein Mountain Range and Caves: Austria
The mountains and caves of Dachstein will serve as the setting for the icy realm of Pohjola and Louhi’s lair, utilizing its dramatic peaks and natural ice cave system. Its raw, untouched terrain provides the perfect foundation for scenes that are ancient and elemental.
Sonic Architecture
The score is central to our world-building. It defines the tone and pace of a visually driven film.
We are proud to collaborate with Steven Severin (a founding member of Siouxsie and the Banshees), who is composing an eerie, haunting, and at times menacing score.
Severin’s soundscapes provide the architectural foundation for the atmosphere we are building, ensuring the world of our film is as sonically immersive as it is visually striking.
Ma-do
The Demon Path
Synopsis
High in the Kansai Mountains, a Yamabushi monk veers from the sacred trail. Deep in the darkness of the ancient forest, he begins his descent down The Demon Path.
