BYRON & SHELLEY: ILLUMINATI DETECTIVES

Byron & Shelley: Illuminati Detectives is the pilot episode of a TV series that presents the Romantic poets, Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, as members of a secret society committed to eradicating magic and superstition through any means necessary. Set on the shores of Lake Geneva, the show follows the two poets as they investigate a gothic mystery involving a local man who may have been transformed into stone by a Sapphic sex demon. The series explores themes of parallel dimensions, advanced surveillance technology, class warfare, and the limitations of Enlightenment thinking in a world on the brink of collapse. Commissioned by dis.art for the 2021 Biennale de l’image en Mouvement at the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, the pilot premiered at the Geneva Biennial and has since been screened at the 2022 Courtisanne Festival in Ghent and at Metrograph in New York.

Writers / Directors – Leah Hennessey + Emily Allen
EPs – Rafael Foster, Ethan Cyr + Aiden Rumack
Producer – Anne Alexander
Co-Ep – Geraldine Baron
DP – Max Lakner
Production Designer – Paul Gondry
Wardrobe – Arabella Aldrich
Hair and Makeup – Ruby McCollister
Casting – Salome Oggenfuss + Geraldine Baron
Editor – Leah Hennessey
Composer – EJ O’Hara
Color – Elias Nousiopoulos
Mix – John Nathans

Featuring
Lord Byron – Leah Hennessey
Percy Shelley – Emily Allen
John Polidori – Carlos Lavezzari
Mary Shelley – Arabella Aldrich
Claire Clairmont – Ruby McCollister
Cristabel – Sylvia Gorelick
The Lamia – Sophie Becker
Christabel’s Father – Preacher
Cassadine Jeremy Benthem – Ed Malone
The Farmer – David Johansen

Year: 2021