Dear Departed
Written & Directed by Lauren Sims
Produced by Louise Dennett & Richard Sims
A girl who recently lost her Grandfather discovers a hidden post office where you can send and receive letters to a loved one who has passed on, but, she receives the wrong letter.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Lauren Sims is a writer, director and editor residing in Hampshire. She graduated last year from Ravensbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Film Production. She has recently founded her production company 'Blue Bucket Productions' with her family.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH LAUREN
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I’m Lauren and I am an independent filmmaker from Alton.
I am one of the founders of the production company Blue Bucket Productions and the writer/director and editor of Dear Departed. I am a huge film nerd and would live in the cinema if I could. I also love to play the piano, I composed most of the melodies used in the film that our talented composer, Gary Bamford, turned into the beautiful score that it is.
Tell us about the genesis of Dear Departed. Where did the idea come from and how did you develop that idea into the short that's now made its way out into the world?
The whole genesis of Dear Departed is a letter that I wish I could send to my Grandpa. We lost him almost 3 years ago. There is so much I didn’t get to say. I was on a train thinking about what I would say to him if I could write him a letter that he could receive. Any one who knows me, knows that I am constantly creating stories in my head and looking for the film in everything. So I thought, no one is going to watch a short film about me writing and receiving letters from my Grandpa, where is the story? So I came up with the main protagonist gets the wrong letter and two families are entwined. The floating letters was one of the first things I came up with. I made a pitch deck and pitched it to my dad. I had magical post office stills and The Grinch post office for inspiration. Now, in our family, they will give me their honest opinion. So when my dad told me he loved it I knew I had something. Dear Departed was really born when my grandma said let’s do it. Then we started this magical and crazy whirlwind.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Dear Departed and how did you overcome them?
One of the main obstacles was making a fantasy world with floating letters on a budget. My mum and I sourced props all over charity shops and a family member even found the golden letterbox whilst on a trip in yorkshire. My dad and boyfriend made the post office door and my sister, who also plays the lead, painted it.
I also had a very delicate subject matter in which it was a year since he passed and the main character, Paige, is based on my sister and myself. The funeral scene was done in one take, from a director’s point of view, it was a perfect take because of the raw emotion. But from a sister’s point of view, it was heart breaking. I was quite distanced emotionally from the reality of the story because I had written it and had created the world. But moments like that affected me massively on set. We overcame this as a team and a family.
Time for shooting the post office was also a big obstacle over two days. the original idea was to wallpaper the whole room, then our DP, Scarlett, came up with the amazing idea of rotating the set 90° for each angle we needed, so the four walls you see of the post office, is the same wall!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
We’ve had the most incredible journey of getting our film to audiences and I am so so grateful. We had the premiere at the REEL cinema in Farnham where we celebrated with cast, crew, family and friends from all over. The fact that everyone was there that evening to support us overwhelmed me in the best way. You can tell I had the best time beause I barely took any pictures! I have thoroughly enjoyed the process of submitting to film festivals through FilmFreeway. Some of my favourite highlights is definitely attending Wellsboro film festival in America. Ollie, my boyfriend, and I went there for a few days where I got to be with my people. Talking film all weekend was a dream and you could tell the festival organisers truly cared about independet film. Being nominated for Best Indie Short Film at the Cannes Film Awards in Nice this year and attending the Birmingham Film Festival gala where I was nominated for Best First Time Filmmaker was also a whirlwind. Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton were also amazing to attend and run by truly passionate organisers. A big highlight for me was when a woman at the Crystal Palace film festival came up to me after our screening and said how moved she was and said ‘I’m going to go write my letter when I get home’. Getting the film on Amazon Prime Video was also a very proud moment!
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
My advice is use who you know. I used my whole family; from my dad being executive producer to my mum being script supervisor and props master. What locations do you have access to? Our local bookshop, Goldfinch and St.Peter’s church, where I attended at primary school, were all a huge help and we used my families house for many scenes.
Use creative ways to screen your film. We used the church we filmed in for a screening and Q&A and opened it up to the public.
BTS is golden. We made a bts film that we showed at our premiere, audiences want to see how you made it and you need stills for promotion.
Prep prep prep and know what you want. If you don’t have the answer, communicate and say you’ll get back to them when you know.
Never keep your actors in the dark, go straight up to them after a scene.
Just reach out to people, what’s the worst that can happen?
Never stop developing your craft and learning, my friend and I went to the Raindance Saturday Film school a few weeks ago and we left so fired up that we’ve now written a short film we’re co-directing and producing together early next year!
I was made to make movies and want to keep making them, so please feel free to reach out as there are movies to be made!
Any film recommendations?
Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’ was a big inspiration for me. The black and white scene with Margot Robbie pulls at my heart strings through the beautiful score and symmetrical camera shots and I wanted to convey the same feeling in my film.
Films that have stuck with me over the years have been ‘A Promising Young woman’, ‘The Iron Claw’, ‘Anora’ and ‘The Brutalist’, I think everyone should watch them.
I recently watched ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ and how did I wait so long? It’s brilliant and I can’t wait to watch it again.
‘Sinners’, ‘One Battle After Another’, ‘Weapons’ and ‘I Swear’ have been my highlights in cinema this year.
I personally think that last year was outstanding for movies and I can’t wait to see what 2026 brings.
