Growing up in a small village, on the windswept, wild, east coast of Scotland, may sometimes encourage a certain fondness for tales and for cinema in general. Indeed, Paul Wright certainly fulfills those criteria with For Those in Peril, his debut feature. a poignant and disturbing film which oscillates, increasingly, between intimate drama and archaic legends. Here are his words, the words of a sensitive story-teller and a vibrant film-director.
"I grew up in Lower Largo, Fife: a small village on the East coast of Scotland ... And I studied Fiction Direction at the NFTS (National Film & Television School), where I made several short films which went on to win various awards and were screened in several major festivals (Locarno, Berlin…). Survivors guilt is certainly a major theme in the film and is always present throughout the piece threatening to engulf our character. Although I believe at its emotional core the film is simply an unconventional love story between two brothers. I have always been most interested in those living on the edge of society, those seen as somehow "other"... It was my hope that the audience would not be merely observing the main character, and his increasingly strange quest, but be directly in his bloodstream and part of his journey, making it a more visceral viewing experience ...".
"The contrasts of life are something I am fascinated with in my films: moving from dark to light, from calm to frenzied, from something beautiful to something horrific ... Grief and death are themes I explore in this film as well as in my short films, as I believe that, when death is present, what happens in life can become all the more fragile and sublime".
