Love & Death: Found Studio Pairs With Rebecca Louise Law for ‘Death of Albine’

Award-winning film and motion design studio, Found, have collaborated with British installation artist, Rebecca Louise Law, for a short film titled ‘Death of Albine’. Directed by Mike Sharpe, it’s a story of lust, love and untimely loss - inspired by Emile Zola’s French novel, ‘The Sinful Priest’.

Centring upon forbidden love, the novel explores an affair between a priest and an innocent young girl, Albine. The pair meet in the beautiful gardens of a dilapidated stately home to consummate their relationship. However, the priest, suddenly wracked with guilt at his unwitting sins, leaves Albine to return to his faith. Albine is left bewildered and suicidal at the loss - she tears the flowers from the garden to build a deathbed, and laying down amongst the petals, thorns and leaves – she commits herself to death. The film is based on these closing moments of the novel, as leading lady (Olivia Lumley) prepares herself for an early end.

Rebecca Louise Law is a British installation artist, best known for artworks created with natural materials, namely flora. The physicality and sensuality of her work plays with the relationship between humanity and nature. Passionate about natural change and preservation, she allows her work to evolve as nature takes its course, offering an alternative concept of beauty.

"This book was given to me at the start of my art practice in 2002 and was an inspiration into how far you can use flowers within the creative arts. In this case, Zola uses flowers to describe human emotion and physicality through words," said Rebecca. "I have used the extremities of Zola's writing as an inspiration throughout my art practice. The relationship between human being and nature is at the core of my work, and to capture an essence of this is what drives me forward. I have been wanting to make a snap shot of this scene since art school, so it's incredibly exciting to finally bring this to life."

Mike Sharpe is an award-winning director - specialising in visual storytelling, he has a strong eye for design and visual effects. Mike has directed music videos for international artists such as Ellie Goulding & Take That, along with groundbreaking content and commercials for a variety of global brands including Microsoft, Fujitsu, PlayStation, Peugeot, BBC, and Peroni.

In 2017, his debut short film, ‘The Dog and The Elephant’, won the ‘British Short Film Award’as the 31stLeeds International Film Festival and was shortlisted for ‘British/Irish Short Film of the Year’at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards.

"When Becca first approached me to make this film, I jumped at the chance as her work is so incredibly powerful," said Mike. "Both as a director and as a studio, we are always looking to stretch the limits of visual storytelling and strive to make striking images that resonate with audiences. Historically our work has been quite technically driven. I wanted to show people that we can also produce films that are more textural and delicate in tone.”

Zola’s novel has been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, musicians and artists for over a century. In particular, it was the subject of late British pre-Raphaelite painter John Collier’s painting ‘The Death of Albine’. 

Sound familiar? An inspiration for the film, Found and Rebecca adopted the title for their unique collaboration.