‘Giving Birth to a Butterfly’ to premiere at Cucalorus Film Festival

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Filmmakers from all around the globe are in Wilmington this week for the Cucalorus Film Festival, which is in its 27th year.

Ted Schaefer, who wrote and directed “Giving Birth to a Butterfly,” will be among those at the festival.

“It’s such an honor,” he said. “Cucalorus has such a great reputation for being one of the coolest festivals in the world and they take care of the filmmakers so well and it’s just so curated. It’s a small, hyper-specific festival that really focuses on finding unique, weird films.”

Schaefer’s film, which he co-wrote with his writing partner, Patrick Lawler, follows the story of a woman who gets her identity stolen. She enlists the help of her son’s pregnant girlfriend to try to find the perpetrators. The two end up on a “strange, surreal road trip,” Schaefer explained.

“The idea for this came from me kind of following a secret shopper scam that was sent to me and I was very curious,” he said. “I looked into it and they sent me a check and there was an address on the check and I Google mapped it and it was just a house in Kentucky.”

Schaefer wondered what and who could be in that house. That inspired the script.

For details on the film and to buy tickets to the Cucalorus screening, click here.

Cucalorus returned to an in-person event following a virtual format last year due to the pandemic. Proof of vaccination is required.

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