Fitcher's Vogel
PHANTASMAL FILM FEST · MAY 2026
Director:
Annie Taylor
2022
Content Warnings
decapitation, kidnapping and arson.
Fitcher's Vogel is a tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, and is told here inside a Dollhouse
Three sisters are one by one abducted by the sorcerer and robber groom. He gives them an egg they must not put down, and a key they must not use. If the would-be brides fail this test, they join their predecessors in the bloody chamber. The third of the three sisters is less trusting and wiser, and she has a pocket in which to put the all important egg. Not all magic in this tale is bad, and the sister manages to restore her elder siblings and hide them.
The Robber Groom is delighted to discover this girl has not dropped the egg or used the key (or so he thinks) and declares he will marry her. She asks him to deliver a trunk of treasure to her home, in which she has hidden her sisters. After dressing a handy skull as the bride and putting it in the window to keep an eye on things, the third sister disguises herself as a bird (Vogel) and leaves the house as the robber groom and his friends return. Locking the door, she sets fire to them all, and flies away.
This version is my telling of the tale, and has minor alterations from the Grimms'. Especially the pocket!
Commissioned by and filmed in the Small House Gallery dollhouse for the Whitstable Biennale Satellite 2022, using stop motion animation, textile figures and whatever else was to hand.

A Little Bit About The Filmmaker
Do you like scary movies? And if so which ones?
Jan Svankmajer's Alice, David Lynch's oddity, James Whale's stylish 1930s horrors.
Who or what is the biggest influence in your film making?
Probably Smallfilms with Pogles Wood and other slightly wobbly stop motion animation. I had great fun telling this story using a dollhouse gallery, making the textile art figures and using objects to hand.
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