Dragon Con Independent Film Festival

Directed by Stephen Jennings; Produced by Kathy Buxton, Tiffany Webber

Inspired by St. George and the Dragon, The Sacrifice is a moody retelling of the classic myth. A dragon nests in the well of a medieval village. Panicked and irrational the fearful villagers attempt to appease the dragon by offering a virgin to the beast. The dragon is satisfied, but not for long. One by one the women of the village vanish as they are offered to satiate the demon’s desires. This trade of women for water escalates until only a young Princess remains. Held captive, she is taken to be offered to the dragon. Forced onto the ledge of the well she awaits her doom as the dragon beats it’s enormous wings lifting it’s mass aloft out of the well. Is there no-one who would save her?

Visually unique with hand illustrated, pop-up book aesthetics and nightmarish undertones, the dark and moody atmosphere mirrors the fable’s themes of self-satisfaction, apprehension, fear and sacrifice.

Written/Directed/Produced by Bryan Papciak

As I look back on my childhood in the late 1970s & early 80s, I realize that a religious up-bringing, and my love for “special fx” movies of the era have become conflated in my memory. This film is probably the result of that.