Director Kenny Foo and co-producer Bryan Fisher have begun production of their first feature film, Butterfly Dreams – a bold, independently produced Australian cosmic horror that explores the uneasy intersection between technology, perception, surveillance and reality.

Following the critical success of their collaborations on COLDER, Corridor, and Slash, they are looking to challenge the found footage / screen-life genre through the claustrophobic intensity of digital surveillance.

Foo and Fisher are returning with a project that takes the conventions of both form and storytelling in a new and unexpected direction.

Butterfly Dreams unfolds entirely through the lenses of devices, phones, webcams, and social media streams, offering a uniquely cinematic un-intermediated (POV) experience – there is no fourth wall. Even the actors operate their own cameras, collapsing the distance between performer, audience, and narrative.

“Often, horror and suspense emerge from quiet spaces and the interior moments between actions,” says Foo. “There’s something deeply relevant about the surveillance of devices, what they see, how they interpret us, and the realities they construct. We’re using those same tools to tell a story about intrusion, identity, and the blurred line between what’s seen and what is real.”

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The film centres on a group of young people who begin to notice anomalies in their day-to-day life, questioning how plausible these disruptions become when everyday life is mediated by an array of devices constantly observing and recording.

From a production standpoint, Butterfly Dreams is a testament to how accessible technology has democratised filmmaking. The team is leveraging readily available digital tools, the same devices found in every pocket and laptop to achieve cinematic textures that, until recently, required far greater resources.

Fisher adds, “The ubiquity of digital cameras means anyone with the will and perseverance can become a storyteller; we’ve come a long way from Buster Keaton’s sleight-of-hand illusions to The Daniels’; using mobile phones for effects shots in Everything Everywhere All at Once. But that technology is a double-edged sword. Those same cameras increasingly encroach on our privacy, and our reality is being increasingly manipulated. In Butterfly Dreams, both sides are explored: the story and the filmmaking tools combine to create an unsettling visually captivating experience by triangulating the audience into the horror.”

Butterfly Dreams redefines what independent cinema can achieve, fusing the immediacy of digital life with the depth of psychological storytelling. With its minimalist production approach and immersive narrative design, the film invites audiences to confront both the power and the peril of the technologies that frame modern existence.

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