Little did director/writer/Visual Effects Supervisor Nicholas Ashe Bateman realize that he would embark on five-year odyssey involving 40 days of principal photography divided into two sections captured over a period of two years and followed by three years in post-production where the visual effects shots doubled from 300 to 600. There was also the matter of raising the necessary funds via a couple of Indiegogo crowdfunding campaigns and him still left wondering if that was enough to complete the project. The blood, sweat, tears and several burned-out computers have paid off as The Wanting Mare arrived in the U.S. cinemas and nationwide VOD in February, and has paved the way for Bateman to work on studio productions such as The Green Knight by David Lowery. The fantasy drama takes place in the world of Whithren where a line of women has a recurring dream thought multiple generations.

“My survival mode was so high during those two years of shooting because we never had the money to finish it,” notes Bateman. “I didn’t have the time to ask, ‘What if none of this works?’ However, once all of the footage is a hard drive and you’re staring at a computer, that’s when you’re allowed to have that thought. The response to it over the past six months, where people seem to be excited and get the strange balance I was trying to achieve between a visual effects movie and a serious arty drama, has been great.”

-director Nicholas Ashe Bateman in VFX VOICE

‘THE WANTING MARE and the Dream That Became Reality”