Colleen Furlotte is an award-winning Canadian indie filmmaker and singer/songwriter from the Moncton area of New Brunswick, Canada. A latecomer to the world of film, Colleen unexpectedly found herself falling in love with the medium which marries a number of her favorite forms of artistic expression.
Perhaps part reflection of her lack of background, perhaps part reflection of her personality, when it comes to making movies – Colleen doesn’t easily fit into a box. She prefers a loosely scripted, organic approach to filmmaking, her style having been referred to as having shades of “cinéma vérité”. She likes to work outside of convention, to keep things fluid and honest, as she attempts to capture, not necessarily create, moments of magic on screen.
Living outside the box means Colleen often breaks the rules of cinema. Sometimes accidentally. Sometimes not. And she prefers it that way. She is happy in her filmmaking naiveté. She likes being a guerrilla.
Colleen is a recipient of the Errol Williams Filmmaker Award and was recognized by the YWCA as a Woman of Distinction for Arts and Culture. “Petal & Moth” is her first narrative feature.
“Petal & Moth” is born of the unexpected. It begins with a natural phenomenon that characterizes the Atlantic Canadian community where the film was fully produced; an attraction that inspired the story. One that involves water. The Maritimes are certainly known for this – water. But the water in this story is different. Its waves do not move in the usual way. There is an uniqueness here. A magic. A power. A pull.
As the tidal bore moved in and out of the Petitcodiac River each day in Riverview, New Brunswick, between August of 2018 and May of 2019, a small but determined team of lightly experienced indie film people pieced together a story about a man and a woman who meet here – along this river’s edge. A story of connection. With water. With people. With music. With art. An unexpected film project, by an unexpected group of people, from an unexpected community with an unexpected river.
“Petal & Moth” is our offering of the humble beauty of our little area of New Brunswick. We hope it moves you as the wave of our river continues to move us.