Samuel Felinton

A behind-the-scenes documentary exploring the making of Project Butterfly: Flatwoods.

This story sounds too crazy to be true, and yet it is. For three years, Berlin film students Julius and Moritz poured their hearts into their animated short Butty, hoping it would launch their careers. But when a festival disqualifies their film, they make a shocking discovery: Butty is already circulating online under the name of an American filmmaker. As they dig deeper, they uncover the unbelievable rise of a mysterious “Mr. F.”, a man hailed as the next Walt Disney who built his success on a stolen film and a web of lies.

The film is described as “an allegory of the gun crisis in the United States.” Its plot follows two Pittsburgh police partners and best friends who are called to an uneventful domestic violence dispute on Second Street. This quickly escalates to a violent confrontation as Officer TJ Meadows III accidentally shoots and kills his partner, Officer Kevin Cooper, with his backup gun. Years later, no longer a cop and still traumatised, he moves back to Pittsburgh and finds his way to his partner’s widow, Kacie. They slowly fall in love as Kacie confronts the history she’s been avoiding, including telling her 15-year-old son, Ralph, TJ’s backstory.