Expanding her award-winning short film Sybil, Joanne Mitchell (Evie) has crafted a bleak but captivating character study that takes us into the minds of a number of troubled souls.

Sybil (Rebecca Calder) is a budding poet whose detachment from the world makes her the perfect candidate for the job at an undertakers, working alongside Mr Thomas (James Fleet), who has run the place on his own since his wife died. She excels in her position since she possesses an unhealthy connection to the corpses. When a museum worker, Mark (Jay Taylor), strikes up a conversation with Sybil, she daydreams about having a relationship but discovers he has a girlfriend. Her fractured mind takes her to some very dark places. Parallel to this, a police detective, Emma (Sacharissa Claxton), has resorted to alcohol to cope as her child has gone missing. Her life will become entwined with Sybil’s in the most horrendous way.

More important than the disturbing events, Broken Bird is an engrossing rumination on loss and grief, and the ways it affects people in different ways. These are people who have been through various traumas and deal with them in their own, often horrific, ways. It’s a testament to Mitchell’s direction and the layered script (by Dominic Brunt from an original story by Tracey Sheals) that, although their actions are extreme and despite their ‘peccadillos’, the characters still command sympathy.

For her feature debut, Mitchell has not opted for an easy watch. Both spellbinding and horrific, Calder plays Sybil as a twisted Amélie, visually waif-like and dispassionate while hiding a perverse urge. Igor Marović’s beautiful cinematography perfectly contrasts against the grim subject. We’ve followed Joanne Mitchell’s film work for a while – as an actor, writer, and producer – and Broken Bird cements her in a healthy position for things to come.

BROKEN BIRD screened at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest and is in UK cinemas from August 30th.