Once upon a time there was a Princess who was gifted with the power to make one wish come true. It had been arranged that she was to marry a Prince whom she did not love nor care for. They are married and at night they sleep apart, the Princess with her wish beside her in the guise of a beautiful, heavenly flower, a pink. The rest of the tale is for you to see, but to the best of my knowledge the Princess still lives happily ever after.

I was largely inspired to make ‘The Pink’ by the work of writers Jeanette Winterson and Angela Carter. Fairytales and their strong imagery had stuck firmly in my mind since childhood and I found the way in which Winterson and Carter played with traditional fairytales appealing. I was interested to see how this translated to film.

‘The Pink’ is a conglomeration of several different fairytales. The focus of the film is gender, and the subversion of the conventional roles that have been expressed in traditional fairytales, particularly those of the Grimm brothers, from where the title of the film is taken. Our gender is constructed and myths and fairytales serve as a form of conditioning to this construction. Making this film was an attempt to disrupt this conditioning and provide an alternative fairytale.

Myths and fairytales are created and written as a form of escape from the contradictions that are inherent in every society. In making this film, it was my aim to use the traditional form of a fairytale, and at the same time reveal just some of what has been concealed within this form.

– Katherine Fry

Description source: publicity materials