Fan Casting

Her eleven brothers were turned into swans. To free them she must knit eleven coats of nettles and not speak a single word until they are finished. She had three years and one secret. Princess Elara, 16, watches her eleven brothers transformed into swans by their stepmother's curse. The only way to break it: she must knit eleven coats from the stinging nettles that grow on graves, not speak a single word for three years, three months, and three days, and place one coat over each swan at the moment the curse breaks. Elara embarks on the task alone — gathering nettles by night, knitting by day, her hands blistered and bleeding, unable to explain herself to anyone. She is found by a king who brings her to his court and falls in love with her silence and her grace. She cannot explain herself. When she is accused of witchcraft and sentenced to burn, she must complete the final coat on the morning of her execution. The film is a meditation on the specific courage of silent perseverance — on doing the necessary work when no one understands what you are doing or why. Act One — The Curse The stepmother. The transformation. Elara's discovery of the swans and the old woman's instructions. Act Two — The Nettle Work Three years of gathering and knitting. The king's court. The witchcraft accusation building. Act Three — The Morning The execution morning. Elara knitting the final sleeve on the pyre. The swans arriving. The coats thrown. The transformation. The final coat missing one sleeve — her youngest brother's arm remains a wing. She speaks her first words in three years.