Originals | PRIVATE: SCOTT CORBETT | “GOOD NIGHT BUTTERFLY”
Good Night Butterfly is a contemplative period piece about loss and longing in the troubled, destabilizing year of 1965. After her father is killed during the Watts riots, a young Chinese woman moves in with the Jewish family who owned the store where he had worked.
Written and directed by Scott Corbett, Good Night Butterfly quietly pulls back the curtains of an illusorily ‘typical’ ‘60s household and their new guest, and earnestly explores the emotional complexities of loss through the grounded performances of its lead characters.
“When I started writing this story, what interested me was the way people relate to one another after experiencing loss. That kind of connection – the recognition of someone else’s pain on an unspoken level – is more profound to me than the fickle, often superficial nature of romantic love,” Scott says. “The film is ultimately about the bittersweet memory of something lost. The idea was for the story to feel like it’s being remembered, made up of moments that time has heightened or discolored or erased.”
The pensive film builds a striking world through immaculate attention to detail in all facets – from the cinematography and score to the costuming and set design. “From the beginning, I wanted to make a film that was an immersion in the ambience of Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. Not as a documentary record, but as an elusive unobtainable creation of the mind.”
Created by Scott and produced by Station Film, the film’s crew features a wide range of film veterans. Director of photography Jeff Venditti, editor Bob Mori, two-time Emmy winning composer Stephen Thomas Cavit, and colorist Alex Bickel, all brought their talents to the project, among many others.
Good Night Butterfly premiered at the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) in New York City, and premiered on the West Coast as a selection at L.A. Shorts Fest in Los Angeles. More details about the film can be found on the Good Night Butterfly official film page.
