Dalila Droege Set to Shoot New Horror Film ‘Beauty Night’ This Summer

Filmmaker Dalila Droege has a very unique horror short ramping up for production, and today is the day for you to help her push the film out of the gate. Droege, whose feature debut No More Time recently wrapped up a successful festival run, is shooting a new film entitled Beauty Night this summer in Los Angeles. Dalila is from South Bend, Indiana and started her filmmaking career in Chicago, graduating from Columbia College with her MFA. Dalila stopped by SCREEN to give us the scoop on Beauty Night and to ask you to pitch in a little today.

Droege is fundraising to complete the last 10% of her budget in the last two days of her Kickstarter campaign. “We are raising money to cover the cost of crew, locations and production design” writes Droege shares with SCREEN. Currently, there is $17,912 pledged of the $20,000 goal. The good news is Droege is very close to that goal. The other news is that Kickstarter campaigns are all or nothing, so if Droege doesn’t achieve the remainder in pledges by this Wednesday, June 18, her backers aren’t charged and she doesn’t get the funding for production.

First things first, please donate to Dalila’s Kickstarter by clicking right here. And now let’s delve into Beauty Night…

Beauty Night is a horror short about puberty. In the film Mia has recently gotten her period. After a spa night where Mia’s Mother shows her how to groom and beautify herself into a real grown up woman, Mia is initiated into a terrifying new role in the family.

Droege spoke about Beauty Night with SCREEN, sharing that “like a lot of artsy weirdos, art saved my life. Growing up in small town Indiana, I lived through books, music, and movies, which helped me make sense of chaos and loneliness. But all the art I loved, the movies I watched, they were all made by men. When I saw films about young women who were supposed to be like me, I didn’t recognize anything from my experience.

What I saw were pubescent sex kittens. Female sexuality was a weapon of power and manipulation, wielded with gusto. These stories made me feel like there was something wrong with me: I was supposed to enjoy being an object of desire. But sexuality wasn’t empowering for me. It was pushed on me by others before I knew who I was or wanted to be.

Beauty Night is a horror film, which is the only way I know how to describe this experience. It is a particular kind of horror to tell someone they have all the power while rendering them powerless. In Beauty Night, a young woman’s coming of age isn’t a fairytale, and it isn’t Lolita with a lollipop. It’s a fight to claim an identity beyond “pretty”, separate from the desires and expectations of the people around you.”

You can read more about the project, get to know Droege’s talented team – which includes DP Jay Keitel (She Dies Tomorrow) and producer Charlotte Glynn (The Immaculate Reception) – and donate to Dalila’s campaign by clicking here.

Be sure to check back here at SCREEN Magazine for the latest news from the independent filmmaking community. You can also click right here to subscribe to our weekly email newsletter.