THE ABSENCE OF HEAT
During a drive, an engaged couple engage in a lighthearted conversation that subtly reveals the dynamics of their relationship.
Directed by Harding & Young
Written by Dave Harding
During a drive, an engaged couple engage in a lighthearted conversation that subtly reveals the dynamics of their relationship.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Harding & Young, a director duo born and bred in East Sussex, with backgrounds in commercial and corporate documentary filmmaking, David Harding and Thomas Young seamlessly transitioned from documenting real-world stories to crafting fiction, thriving on small teams and modest budgets. Their commitment to creative storytelling shines through in every project.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH DAVE
Tell us about the genesis of The Absence of Heat.
The Absence of Heat was born from an evening of doom scrolling. I (Dave) came across a video of Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about how cold doesn’t actually exist. Me and my partner almost never argue and if we do it’s always over the most mundane things. She often remarks on how I can look a little too deeply into the wording of things rather than the actual subject we’re arguing about. I usually see the humour in these arguments before they’ve even finished, much to her enjoyment.
The combination of these two things led to the bulk of the dialogue being written very quickly in my notes app. A quick polish, plus the fact I’d always wanted to shoot a driving scene, and we basically had a full script the next day.
My friend Zach is an amazing filmmaker and a big car guy so it felt like an obvious collab. We put his dad’s beautiful old car on a trailer on the back of Zach’s van and rigged the camera up. We did a few drives down one of our favourite hometown roads during golden hour and had the whole film wrapped in an hour, thanks to the absolute pros and real life couple Ed and Lily.
The edit also came together super fast the next day, along with writing and recording a short piece of music. It’s probably the quickest and most seamless anything I’ve created has ever come together!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
So far we’ve only shared it on YouTube, but we’re hoping to have it screened at some festivals over the summer.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Based on our experience of this film, I’d say look for something you notice in the everyday that you find some sort of humour, enjoyment or fear in, and write a small, contained moment in a character’s life. Try to keep it in one location and as simple to shoot as possible.
What are you working on now?
I’ve just written a new, longer short script which totally ignores all of the advice above. It’s a lot more ambitious and is going to take a while to get into production but I’m very excited for it!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
A hugely underrated favourite of mine is A Ghost Story.
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STORM CLOUDS
An identical twin takes on his dead brother’s identity to evade responsibility to the family business, which is controlling the weather via masturbation.
Written & Directed by Adrian Delcan
Produced by Henrik Larsen & Adrian Delcan
An identical twin assumes his dead brother’s identity to evade the responsibility involved with his weather-controlling gift; the centerpiece of his family’s business.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Adrian is a writer and director from Southern California. He worked as a writer on Judas, the latest game from BioShock creator Ken Levine. He directed the short film Animal Behavior, which screened at festivals including LA Shorts, NFFTY, and PÖFF in Estonia. He was a YoungArts x Ignite Fellow at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. His debut feature film, Old Man, was released by Gravitas Ventures in January 2025.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ADRIAN
Hi Adrian! Welcome back. Other than making Storm Clouds, what else have you been up to since we featured your previous film Animal Behaviour?
Hi Dustin! It’s a pleasure to be back, thanks for having me. Since we last spoke I’ve moved back and forth between Los Angeles and New York City a few times for work. I’m in New York now. So other than packing and unpacking I’ve been spending my time writing. I’ve actually been working on a feature adaptation of Animal Behavior.
I also completed another short film; that one is titled Early Human Media. It’s a comedic and surrealist take on a guy going up to a girl’s apartment for the first time. It will be premiering at a festival this March.
Your work in general has absurd comedic tones with quite dark sharp edges. It's akin to the work of Aster and Lanthimos, yet unique in its own right. How would you classify your style? What are some of the main influences on your style?
I love the work of Ari Aster and Yorgos Lanthimos, they’re absolutely influences so I’m flattered by the comparison. If I had to point to our shared interest it would probably the be the concern for comedy. I really love going to the movies to laugh, and sometimes the best laughs are the ones that make you second guess if you should’ve at all. I often feel that way watching the movies of Aster and Lanthimos, it may be a performance choice or something deeply disturbing. They’re always heightening the reality in ways I couldn’t have expected but never enough to alienate me, and I think that’s because their stories are anchored in deeply relatable characters. These are things I constantly aim for in my writing and directing.
I would say that I make character-driven comedies, often blending thriller, sci-fi, or crime elements.
Tell us about the genesis of Storm Clouds. Where did the idea come from? How did you develop that idea into the short that's now made its way out into the world?
I’m a big fan of science fiction and have always tip-toed around it in my own work, but it wasn’t until I started reading more Stephen King did I feel like there was a way to do it that was true to me. This project came on the heels of that feeling. Before writing there were a few things I knew I wanted to explore in the next project, like having a larger cast, lots of moving camera, and I wanted to involve images of the sky. The sex of it all was something that came later. It was important to me how the family created clouds. There’s a much simpler version of this movie that removes all of the sex and just has the family meditating to conjure the rain, but I felt that framing the ability as shameful and disturbing created good tension. I also thought it would be cinematically interesting to sequence clouds forming this way.
I can imagine that the concept of this film would be difficult to pitch. How did you get collaborators onboard? Did any of the actors have reservations? How do you build trust with your talent to know that they're in safe hands despite the more absurd and crude elements of the story?
I felt pretty strongly that the script was coming from an earnest place, with a keen interest in exploring the Fontaine family, and that the crude elements weren’t employed as spectacle. So a lot of my job as the director was communicating this vision to my collaborators, and it was through lots of practical discussions did they understand how we’d be treating the subject matter. We also had an intimacy coordinator that helped us breakdown the sex scenes so that it felt like we were just following a cookbook. By the time we got to set it all became very technical: you go there, open the window, put your hand in your pants, and the camera will track with you whenever you’re ready.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences? Did you experience much festival rejection? If so, how did you overcome that?
We had Storm Clouds screened at Whammy in Los Angeles and at the Laugh After Dark Festival in Las Vegas. However, the 24 minute runtime and heavy subject matter definitely made it a difficult short to program at festivals. As much as I tried, I never had a chance at getting this movie under 20 minutes. There was a 50 minute cut, 18 minute cut, 10 minute cut, but in the end the story decides how long it should be, and for us that was 24 minutes.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
There’s so much to learn in challenging yourself to make an extremely short cut of your movie, even if you immediately revert back to the original version. The search for the most distilled version of your story reveals who you are as a filmmaker. The elements you can’t bear to lose, the ones that make your stomach turn when they’re not in the movie, is your voice speaking.
What are you working on now?
I have a new short film titled Early Human Media that will have its festival premiere this March 2026!
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I’ve recently come into the movies of American filmmaker Joseph Losey: The Prowler, The Servant, and many other incredible works of his from the 40s and 50s. If you have a blind spot for this era of cinema, please do yourself a favor and start with his movies.
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STILL GOT IT
A cheeky Grandpa seizes a moment of freedom while the nurse is out.
Starring Ronald Pickup & Jackie Howe
Written & Directed by Miles Dickinson
Produced by Sam Simmons-Betts & Matt Ashworth
A cheeky Grandpa seizes a moment of freedom while the nurse is out.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Miles Dickinson is a Leeds based filmmaker with a background in commercial production across branded content, TV commercials, radio and social campaigns. He currently works for the University of Leeds as a Production Lead in their Digital Education team.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH MILES
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Thank you for having me. My name is Miles Dickinson and I’m a UK-based filmmaker. It feels strange to describe myself like this because it’s been so long since I last made a film, and so much of my life has changed since I shot this back at the start of 2019. I started out making short films and music videos after graduating from university in 2015. Over time, I slowly moved away from narrative filmmaking and into agency life, working in commercial production across branded content, TV commercials, radio and social campaigns. During the pandemic, my wife and I relocated from London to Leeds, and sadly the filmmaking side of my life gradually faded away.
Short films have always been a really important part of my development, though, and I’ve often said that one day I’d return and make another short. Some of my best memories are scraping money together and working with friends to create something we felt was worth sharing with the world. That’s exactly what this film is. A passion project made between friends, and at the time it was an opportunity for me to continue honing my writing and directing skills. I made Still Got It over seven years ago, but it genuinely feels like yesterday. Making short films gave me the freedom to experiment with tone and storytelling, while also focusing on performance, pacing and visual language, all without the pressure of scale or commercial clients.
Tell us about the genesis of Still Got It. 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 idea came from spending time with my grandparents and noticing how much of their identity had quietly faded from view as they got older. You meet someone late in their life and you rarely get any sense of who they were before age, illness or routine took over. I kept thinking about how many elderly people are walking around with entire histories, passions, talents and stories that never get acknowledged. With Still Got It, I wanted to tell a story that reveals that hidden inner life in a playful way, rather than something overly sentimental or bleak.
Once I landed on the idea of an older man secretly dancing, the rest of the film grew quite naturally around that. The relationship with Karen, his daughter and carer, became the emotional framework. She isn’t a villain; she loves him. But her care has become controlling. This dynamic gave the film both its humour and its heart. The film I made before Still Got It was called Orchid, which also featured an elderly character. That film was much more serious in tone, exploring grief. After making these two films, it became clear to me that I’m drawn to hidden stories and the emotional depth that comes with ageing and having most of your life behind you. I’m drawn to themes of nostalgia, memory and past experience. You learn things about yourself when you make films!
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Still Got it and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges was working with an elderly lead and building a physically demanding dance sequence around him. Ron Pickup was extraordinary, and it was an absolute privilege to work with such an established actor, especially at that early stage of my career. Ron did'nt have to say yes to this film. He chose to do it purely to support me as a young filmmaker, and he did so with immense generosity and kindness. He worked without any ego, without expectation, and with total commitment to the story. Over the course of the shoot, Ron and I became genuine friends, and that trust was fundamental to how the film came together.
Because of his age and the physicality required, his safety was always the priority for us. We approached the dance sequence with careful planning, rehearsal and flexibility, adapting the choreography and coverage to suit Ron rather than forcing the performance to meet a preconceived idea. That allowed the scene to feel joyful and liberated while remaining safe and respectful.
Still Got It became one of Ron’s final screen performances before his tragic passing, which makes the film incredibly special to me. He was a kind, gentle soul, and I feel truly honoured that I had the opportunity to work with him and to capture such a beautiful, playful performance so late in his life.
Another major challenge for me was working with a Director of Photography whom I’d not worked with before, whose creative approach was different to mine. Due to scheduling, I hadn’t been able to spend much time with him prior to the shoot, as I normally would with DoPs I’d previously worked with. On set, we had different ideas around framing, blocking and action, which threw off my process. I’m not taking anything away from his clear talent and all of his ideas were strong, but in my inexperience I didn’t know how or when to push back on those differing opinions. It was a valuable learning experience because, ultimately, I do wish that I’d held firm and stuck to my storyboard. You live and learn!
There were also the usual short-film realities: an extremely tight budget, limited shoot days and a small crew. But we were lucky to have an incredibly committed team who genuinely believed in the project. That belief made a huge difference, and everyone went the extra mile to make sure the film felt polished and emotionally honest.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights?
We didn't screen the film at any festivals. Mainly due to financial restrictions! It's amazing that the film is now starting to be seen all these years later.
We understand that you've sat on this project for quite a while before releasing it online. Would you mind telling us why?
Yes, it's been in a metaphorical dusty box for many years! In all honesty, for a long time I really wasn't proud of this film. I must stress that my disappointment is not a result of any lack of talent or ability in my crew. Far from it. I was blown away by the quality of work they brought to this. I was just disappointed in the decisions I made during the creation of the film and the direction I took it. I felt for a long time that it didn't represent my original vision, and I was frustrated that I'd decided to take a departure from a style of filmmaking I'd worked so hard to hone in my other works.
Letting it breathe allowed me to gain some distance from it and start to appreciate it for what it is, rather than constantly thinking about what I would have changed. All these years later, I now smile when I watch it because these are great memories for me, and I really am now proud of what we achieved with it. Yes, it's not exactly how I'd imagined it, but it has plenty of charm, it looks beautiful, and it's an entertaining short film – in my humble opinion, of course!
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Great question! My advice would be to work with people more talented than you. When you find them, reach out, be genuine, meet with them, become friends, and make sure that you're creatively aligned. Don't be afraid to send scripts to agents, ask for favours, and wheel and deal. So many of my opportunities came from this way of thinking. I learned so much by surrounding myself with people who were better than me, who had more of an education in the arts than I did. I desperately wanted to study Film Directing at the prestigious National Film and Television School. I applied every year for about five years and heard nothing back. So instead, I decided to work with alumni from the school on many of my short films – what's the difference?
What are you working on now?
Nothing at the moment! Who knows, being selected for KINO's Weekly Pick might bring my inner filmmaker back to the surface. Maybe it's time to dig out some of my old scripts and go again...
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I've been out of the game for a long time now so nothing hot off the press to recommend. But, doing some digging back through my old liked shorts on vimeo I've found a couple worth mentioning here. Hala (2016) by Minhal Baig is fantastic. I absolutely love Mixtape Marauders (2018) by Peter Edlund. Milton (2019) by Tim Wilkime is great fun too. My good friend Mark Van Heusden makes great films too.
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Jinx
An embittered, young woman discovers she has the power to exact revenge on her ex-boyfreind who has the audacity to move on with another woman.
Written, directed & Produced by Gillian Harker
An embittered, young woman discovers she has the power to exact revenge on her ex-boyfreind who has the audacity to move on with another woman.
ABOUT THE FILM
JINX was created for the 2020 Straight 8 competition and placed Top 25. It also won Best Celuloid at Film Only Festival, was an official section at Tweetfest 2020, and was selected by Shiny Network for the New Directors Programme 2021.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Gillian is an award-winning writer and director, recognised by Shiny Network as one of the ‘best new directing talents worldwide’. She is a member of Directors UK and specialises in bold, character-driven storytelling.
Her latest short film, Strip the Peacock Bare- starring Abigail Hardingham, Jess Douglas-Welch, Andre Flynn and Simon Phillips- is currently in post-production. Her previous short film, Tackling, premiered at the BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Film Festival in 2022. As a writer, she reached the quarter-finals of the Outstanding Screenplays TV Pilot Competition (2024) with her debut pilot script, 'Blooming Elle.'
Gillian’s debut short, Cross, starring Ryan Hayes, won multiple awards, including Best Male Actor at the BIFA-qualifying Little Wing Film Festival 2019 and the Audience Award at the 20th Keswick Film Festival 2020.
Her Straight 8 films Jinx and Day 60 were selected for the 2020 and 2021 competitions by a judging panel that included Academy Award-winners Asif Kapadia and Robbie Ryan. Her 2021 film Feast screened at several UK festivals, including BIFA-qualifying Little Wing and Kino: The People’s Festival, and was nominated for Best English Short Film at the British Short Film Awards 2021.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH GILLIAN
Welcome Gill!
You’re no stranger to Kino. A few of your shorts have been Official Selections during the early years of our festival, we’ve featured Cross as a previous Short of the Week, and you’ve been programming for KLSFF the past three years.
How has your experience as a film programmer informed your own filmmaking?
My experience as a film programmer has definitely informed my filmmaking, though the influence is sometimes more instinctive which I find harder to articulate. After three years programming at Kino, I’d say I've developed a much sharper sense of what doesn’t work in a film and a real appreciation for not wasting a single second of screen time. The opening has to be strong and decisive, of course, but it also needs a distinct tone, whatever the genre. How to achieve that is the challenge every filmmaker wishes they had a blueprint for. Whether I'm able to harness that understanding and apply it to my own filmmaking remains to be seen! No film is ever perfect.
Programming has also reinforced something I've felt almost allergic to: films that lean too heavily on style over substance. I want every creative choice- the aesthetic, the costumes, the production design, etc...- to feel rooted in the world of the story, not just a “let’s make it a bit Wes Anderson here”. Finding your own distinct voice is hard, and trusting it without being swayed by what looks “cool” is even harder. When I made my latest short, Strip the Peacock Bare, I was really conscious of staying anchored in the roots of the story when making stylistic decisions. Part of the fun for me is always asking why: Why do they wear this and not that? Why does the scene take place here and not somewhere else? Why this choice over that one?
I’d also hope my experience as a programmer will make rejection a little easier to swallow, because I’ve genuinely seen how often we have to make really tough decisions. We’ve rejected films that one (or more) of us have absolutely loved, for reasons completely beyond the filmmaker’s control. Having said that, I don't feel like rejection is ever palatable!
You’ve also been quite heavily involved with the Straight 8 community, and Jinx was created specifically for their competition. Can you tell us a bit about the competition?
I love the Straight 8 competition and I love talking about it. I’ve recommended it to so many people, especially emerging filmmakers, I feel like I should be on commission! In a nutshell, you shoot on a single roll of Super 8, which gives you around 2.5 to 3 minutes. Only in-camera editing is allowed, and there’s zero post-production. The sound and score have to be created separately and then synced at the lab, so nailing the timing is everything. It’s really challenging. But so, so fun! It's a wonderful community of filmmakers and I've been so incredibly inspired by many of the Straight 8 films I've seen.
Sounds quite challenging. How did you find the process, and any tips & tricks for filmmakers looking to try Straight 8?
I absolutely loved making Jinx. Hard to believe it was over five years ago now. It was my first time doing Straight 8 and also my first time working on celluloid, and the process ended up teaching me a huge amount, especially about “show, don’t tell.” Because syncing dialogue is so difficult in Straight 8, I decided early on to make it a silent film, which pushed me to think in a much more purely visual way. With only one roll of Super 8, every frame had to matter and every moment had to move the story forward. Oddly enough, those limitations were incredibly energising.
Acting in it myself added another layer. I felt that in past projects I had been a bit vague with my character intentions, but Straight 8 leaves no room for that- there’s no rescuing a performance in the edit. I had to be very precise about what the character wanted in every single take. And honestly, I loved the chance to lean into something a bit heightened; Super 8 can really embrace slightly over-the-top performances.
Because you only get one take per shot, rehearsal became a crucial part of the process. I adore rehearsing with actors anyway- it’s where the magic happens- but for Straight 8 it’s basically essential. That would be my number one tip to someone looking to make a Straight 8 film. Rehearse!
To help with the musical score sync, I also shot and edited a rough proxy version on my phone, which acted as both a storyboard and a pacing guide. It was incredibly useful, and I’d definitely recommend that to anyone attempting Straight 8 for the first time. My 1st AD was really dilligent with helping me keep the pacing accurate for each shot. The whole process is challenging, but if you embrace the constraints, it becomes really fun.
What’s the inspiration behind Jinx? Would the themes & characters you explore in Jinx have manifested themselves in a digital short had you not done the Straight 8 competition or is there something specific to this story that you felt needed to be told via an 8mm format?
One of my favourite short stories is Thomas Hardy’s 'The Withered Arm'. The ostrasized protagonist learns her ex-lover, and father to her illegitimate child, has just got married to a beautiful, younger woman. Her curiosity and jealously of the new bride quickly becomes a dark obsession and the story takes a gory, supernatural turn with devastating consequences. It's incredible. The seeds of Jinx came from a really and truly dreadful short script I had written based, very loosely, on this brilliant Hardy story, but in a contemporary setting. I soon abandoned that version but the themes of jealousy- particularly between women- loneliness and obsession present in 'The Withered Arm' was something I wanted to keep exploring. I also loved the supernatural element in the original story.
I did feel Super 8 was naturally suited to a tale with gothic undertones. Its texture and moodiness complement that world beautifully. And, as I mentioned before, Super 8 also lends itself to slightly heightened performances reminiscent of the silent era, which fit the tone of the film perfectly.
The idea for the doll came from exploring and researching folk magic and witchcraft in Old England. 'Poppets' were dolls made to represent a person, for casting spells on that person- sometimes love spells, but often harmful, vengeful spells. I quite liked the idea of exploring the reasons for wanting to use one of these dolls on someone, and it was particularly fascinating to think about its use for revenge. I wish I had a more scholarly answer as to why I was interested in exploring themes of revenge and jealously at that time, but I had just come out of a long-term relationship so I thought maybe it would be best to channel my heartbreak in a healthy, creative way!! I also wanted to find the dark humour in it all, and hopefully that translates in the final film.
The characters actually did manifest themselves more becasue of the 8mm and competition restraints. Everything had to come down to the aesthetic. My mood board for this film was an eclectic mix of visuals. I was really drawn to the work of Edvard Munch too, not just The Scream, but his other works which all depict mental illness, self-loathing, isolation and loneliness in such vividly harrowing, heart-breaking ways. The raw, devastation leaps off the canvas and I wanted to capture some of that in my film. I was really struck by the iconic images of Heath Ledger as The Joker with the smeared red lips, which I echoed for the first moment of possession. I hoped to evoke from that a sense of madness, unbalance and the thirst for violence the protagonist has. For the choreography and movement visuals, we looked at moments from The Exorcist, and images of contortionists to try to evoke the feeling of violence being inflicted on Maddy's character, and the fear and pain she would be in having been possessed.
As a short film programmer, what pieces of feedback do you find yourself giving to filmmakers most consistently? How can filmmakers looking to make moves in the short film space avoid common mistakes?
I don’t really know if I give advice. I think most filmmaker can sense what works and what doesn’t when they watch something but it’s much harder to apply to our own work. I would say that the opening few moments in a short film really do matter. If other programmers are like me, they’ll be watching your short on their laptop with a bunch of other films waiting to get seen. I would definitely watch lots of short films, not just features. Watch some early short films from filmmakers that you are inspired by. I think it’s important to watch the early stuff because in most cases you can see the spark but without the finesse which can perhaps be intimidating to grassroots filmmakers.
You’ve recently wrapped your next short, the ambitious period drama Strip the Peacock Bare. How did production go & can you give us a sneak peak?
I’m really excited to get Strip the Peacock out there. It’s an idea that’s been brewing for about a decade but lay dormant for many years. Production went (mostly) really well. There were really stressful moments at the time, but I look back now and think how much luck was on our side. In terms of a sneak peak, I can't share anything just yet other than a still from the film, but what I will say is that the actors are astonishing. I think we have something really unique to show people. I'm a little apprehensive to talk about it becasue I don't want to 'jinx' anything!!
Recommendations to add to our watchlist? Give us 1 short, 1 Hollywood feature, & 1 indie feature.
This is tough, but as we're talking about a film I made on film, I thought I would recommend films also shot on film.
1 Short:
I’d definitely recommend browsing the Straight 8 website as they’ve got a great selection of past films. One of my favourites is Crumbs, which you can find there. It’s a perfect example of how inventive filmmakers can get within the Straight 8 constraints.
1 Hollywood Feature:
Since it’s currently in cinemas, I’d suggest One Battle After Another. It’s bold, beautifully crafted and dizzyingly exciting. It's definitely worth seeing on the big screen.1 Indie:
Bait by Mark Jenkin. I adore this British indie, shot on 16mm. It’s a brilliant example of a filmmaker with a truly distinct voice- someone who isn’t swayed by trends or what’s considered “marketable,” and instead commits completely to the aesthetic and storytelling style that serves the film. I also think its trajectory is incredibly inspiring for grassroots filmmakers.
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Amigo
'Amigo', the rent-a-friend app has taken London by storm. An unfriendly Amigo's life comes crashing down when he finds out his life is a lie.
Directed by James & Harrison Newman
Written by James Newman & Tom Waterhouse
Produced by Guy Lindley
'Amigo', the rent-a-friend app has taken London by storm. An unfriendly Amigo's life comes crashing down when he finds out his life is a lie.
ABOUT THE FILM
AMIGO was an Official Selection at the 2025 edition of our BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival. Other festival highlights include the BAFTA qualifying Bolton International Film Festival & Aesthetica Film Festival. It also played at Discover Film Festival, Indie-Lincs Film Festival, Northampton Film Festival, and Cardiff Mini Film Festival. It was released online by Directors Notes.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
James Newman is an award-winning writer-director from Reading, Berkshire, specializing in comedy. With 7-8 short films and an award-winning feature screenplay under his belt, Newman has quickly become a rising force in British independent cinema.
Starting as a runner in Soho’s production companies, he’s since earned 2nd place at Slamdance’s Short Film Screenwriting Competition, 2nd place in The Pitch Film Fund, a British Short Film Award for Best Comedy, and Best Short at our very own Kino London Short Film Festival.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JAMES
Welcome James!
You’re no stranger to Kino. Your film Viskar I Vinden won the 2022 edition of our festival, which awarded you our film fund to help make Do Not Touch - your first collaboration with comedian Sean Walsh. Now you’ve teamed up with Sean once again on your latest film to have just come off the festival circuit, Amigo.
Can you talk about how you came up with the idea for Amigo and how it was initially developed as series, and why you decided to pivot to make it as a short film instead?
So initially, it was about a prostitution app like Uber, and the lead would have been a male prostitute. We wrote that as a TV pilot around 5 or 6 years ago. But we pivoted as the storylines we came up with were about people being lonely and not using the app for sex, but for companionship. And then we thought that there was something in that—the core of the idea is about lonely people desperate to connect with someone. The most valuable thing I’ve learned from going to short film festivals is that all cinema and media which involves storytelling is about human connection, or the lack thereof.
Currently, you’re branching out as you gear up to make another short, The Ladder. You often co-direct. Will this be your first time solo-directing a short?
This isn’t my first time solo directing—I directed my first short, Viskar I Vinden, on my own. But I have co-directed recently on The Pitch’s new comedy short, Kitty, with Lizzie Hart, which I didn’t write. It was incredible to come in on a project that I hadn’t been involved in the writing process for. It’s so far away from what I normally do—it’s super duper charming and sweet. It was really nice to play in someone else’s really well-constructed world.
Join us for a sneak peak at THE LADDER
We’ll screen the key creative team’s previous works + do a public table read of upcoming work in order to get audience feedback.
All proceeds to go directly to topping up production funding for The Ladder, shooting early 2026.
In the past, what has been your motivation to co-direct in most instances & what excites you about helming the director’s chair solo this time around?
The motivation to go back to being solo is that I really enjoy the full responsibility of the film. I want to become a better director, and I think the way to do that is to be fully responsible for all areas of the production rather than delegating between two people. With Kitty, I was more of a conduit for the crew and technical aspects than the actual story and world, whereas I want to stretch myself and get out of my comfort zone to do things that I’m creatively excited about. With the rise of AI, I think we need to tell more human stories and have choices that the characters make that an LLM won’t agree with but makes sense to humans.
The Ladder will be another Kino Original, making you the first filmmaker in Kino’s history to have been granted funds twice. What’s your secret to closing deals to secure funding?
I think the key is to try to outwork your competition. Enter everything, as I think it’s a numbers game. Do your research—what are they likely to commission? I think the key is to write things that interest you rather than trying to win the fund, otherwise people will be able to sniff it out, especially when it’s made and screening at festivals.
The Ladder has also been shortlisted for several other funds including Slick Films, From The Silver Screen, First Flights & more. Can you talk a bit about your funding strategy?
To be honest, I’m very surprised we’ve gotten into the finals or been longlisted for like 75% of the funds we’ve gone after. I think it’s actually quite bizarre. I’m not sure if it’s the subject matter or that it’s quite relatable and speaks to something people are feeling at the moment? But I think the strategy is: package it nicely, reach out to talent and get them attached. I think the goal is to make an undeniable film where everyone can see it doing well on the festival circuit.
Many short filmmakers struggle with even getting in the room to pitch, so well done on making it the room so many times. What do you think within your work and your funding application materials has made the difference to get such positive reception?
I think the subject matter of the housing crisis and intergenerational inequality is something I’m quite angry about, and it’s blended with real experiences with a bailiff. And it’s from lived experience of being really poor in London that I don’t think sounds like a repurposed Guardian article. It helps having producers like yourself and Guy Lindley on board, and a great creative team with Nathan Claridge. I think what’s helped me was going to a webinar with First Flights about what they care about in a funding application, and that helped. I think they have some resources on their website. But I think having a story that connects and characters you care about are crucial, because if you don’t have that, you don’t have a film, in my opinion.
Recommendations to add to our watchlist? Give us 1 short, 1 Hollywood feature, & 1 indie feature.
Short: The Farm
Feature: Bugonia
Indie feature: Grand Theft Hamlet
Interested in getting your work selected?
On Purple
Seeking constructive criticism, a couple shares their poetry with each other. But it turns into a condescending competition of who’s the better poet.
Written & Directed BY Joe Quartararo
Produced by Thomas D White
Seeking constructive criticism, a couple shares their poetry with each other. But it turns into a condescending competition of who’s the better poet.
ABOUT THE FILM
ON PURPLE was a Semi-Finalist at the past edition of our very own Kino London Short Film Festival. It’s also played at the New York Short Film Festival and online with Film Shortage and Short Films Matter.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Joe Quartararo is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and graduate of the film program at the School of Visual Arts. He has been making films professionally through his production company Lakhota Film for over a decade. Joe grew up on Long Island and before going to film school worked as a truck driver, delivering furniture and granite while pursuing filmmaking. His films focus on social class and ambition.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JOE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I am a Brooklyn based filmmaker. I have worked, and continue to work in the film industry both in production and adjacent in presentation. Whether it is handling film, 70mm, 35mm and now Vista Vision, or shooting film both digital and analog formats. I am always interested in helping others create and produce their work, in addition to my own creative pursuits. I've been fortunate to be part of a great collective of filmmakers and crew members in NYC, who helped produce "On Purple," as well as many others projects.
Tell us about the genesis of On Purple. 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 idea for On Purple, came from wanting to explore the idea of indirect communication and the dysfunction of relationships. Poetry felt like a fitting device for the characters to use to build off of and illustrate the marital discord without being too heavy handed.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making On Purple and how did you overcome them?
Many of the obstacles we would've incurred on this shoot were mitigated by the technical strengths and expertise of the cast & crew we were very fortunate to have. We shot the interiors of this film in one 10hr day with exteriors shot the morning after for a few hours. The amount of material we were able to cover in a single day of shooting without compromising setups & script is uncommon, and that's coming from experience. Because of their collective preparedness and professionalism we were able to maximize the effect of the film.
The score does a really good job elevating and supporting the film, as well as set the tone. Can you tell us a bit about the process of working with your composer on this?
Really glad you asked that question. I was very happy to have connected with Sam Carey, to compose the music for this film. While editing the film, I felt strongly that we would need an original composition to help elevate the material and Sam excelled at capturing the tone of the piece. He developed a musical contrast for the individual poets, to shed light on the subtext of their characters and importantly guide the viewer. Whereas one poet was erratic and angry, the other was elegant and grand. The associated instrumentation was a deliberate mixture of piano, violin and electronics that said a lot about the ebb and flow of their relationship. I had a great collaboration with Sam on this project, I think we both understood that music could help with detailing that mysterious, cryptic and unspoken thing between the two dueling poets.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
We are screening in person in New York next week, and have had multiple online releases (Film Shortage, Short Films Matter, and now Kino). Online releases have been very helpful in that you can reach such a wide audience quickly, although we are excited about screening in person next week, so we can meet and engage with New York filmmakers & producers.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Write within your means, write from experience and what you know. If you are passionate about making films, then be around the process of filmmaking as much as you can be. It will not only make you learn to be a better filmmaker, but it will introduce you to the network of people you will need to collaborate with. It truly is a group effort to make a film. Be positive, helpful and resourceful and your film will be better for it.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Plop
A desperate woman from the society of rejected singles, known as the Leftovers, takes a bold leap of faith on a revolutionary new dating app, risking everything for one last chance at love.
Directed & Produced Darius Shu
Written by Arron Blake
A desperate woman from the society of rejected singles, known as the Leftovers, takes a bold leap of faith on a revolutionary new dating app, risking everything for one last chance at love.
ABOUT THE FILM
PLOP premiered in competition at the Manchester Film Festival 2025. Other festival highlights include the BIFA qualifying Sunrise Film Festival & Brighton Rocks Film Festival. Plop also played at SCI-FI London, Clapham International Film Festival, Big Fridge International Film Festival and it was a Semi-Finalist at our very own Kino Short Film Festival earlier this year.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Darius Shu is a writer-director drawn to humanistic, emotionally resonant stories told through a visually poetic lens. His work often centres on underrepresented voices and overlooked narratives.
A passionate advocate for Asian and LGBTQIA+ representation in cinema, Darius is committed to using film as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue and cultural progress. His stories aim to create space, for reflection, visibility, and connection.
Darius made his directorial debut with His Hands (2019), a silent psychological drama nominated for Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Festival 2019. He followed this with I Am Norman (2021), a fictional documentary thriller which premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival. His latest short film PLOP (2025) premiered In Competition at the Manchester Film Festival and has screened at Picturehouse Finsbury Park, with selections at over five BAFTA/BIFA-qualifying festivals.
With over nine years of experience as a cinematographer, Darius has shot a wide range of acclaimed projects, including the BAFTA-nominated film Always, Asifa (2023), the Netflix documentary Peach Paradise (2022), Queer Parivaar (2022), Where We Came From (2024) starring Archie Panjabi, Cuddle (2026) featuring Mark Gatiss and served as 2nd Unit DOP on the feature film Last Days, directed by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, Star Trek Beyond) which world premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025. He shot his first feature 'Slim', directed by Sky Yang and produced by Chi Thai.
Through his work, Darius continues to push the boundaries of independent film while championing stories that challenge, heal, and humanise.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH DARIUS
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Thank you so much for having me and for spotlighting PLOP. I’m Darius Shu, a director and cinematographer based in London. I'm drawn to stories that explore the existential questions of identity, humanity, connection and the social constructs that shape our lives. I'm always fascinated to create something fresh out of something ordinary, to have my characters deal with the presence of anxiety, and be morally ambiguous. My background started in cinematography and have been a DP for 9 years, where I learnt how to build moods and emotion visually, and over the years that naturally led me into directing and storytelling. I like to blend social awareness with a touch of surrealism, creating films that feel both emotionally grounded and a little poetic. At the heart of it, I’m just obsessed with cinema’s ability to connect people and spark conversations.
Tell us about the genesis of Plop. 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?
My writer and actor, Arron Blake, pitched me a story he’d been developing, one I knew could really surprise and challenge audiences. I’ve always wanted to make a sci-fi film, being a huge fan of shows like Star Trek and Black Mirror, so I thought, why not take his concept and set it within a dystopian world? Finally getting the chance to bring that vision to life was incredibly exciting. The idea came from observing the absurdity and vulnerability of modern dating, one we both relate and is really fed up of...the endless swiping, algorithms, and the curated personas we present to the world. I wanted to see what happens when these societal constructs collide with our raw, unfiltered desire to be loved and accepted for who we truly are.
In the story, we disguise this in the app’s unconventional way of assessing compatibility which pushes people to confront their most honest, primal selves. The Leftovers aren’t just single people, they represent anyone who has ever felt rejected, outcast, or unworthy. Through the protagonist’s journey, we get a world where societal expectations clash with personal desires, and humour helps highlight the awkwardness, fears, and hopes that come with love and rejection on a first date. Developing Plop meant blending genres to feel fresh, using a sci-fi backdrop to exaggerate societal norms while keeping the emotions grounded, awkward, and relatable. At its heart, it’s about relationships, human connection, and navigating the modern world of AI and dating in a way that hopefully sparks both reflection and conversation.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Plop and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges with making Plop was juggling the sci-fi elements while keeping the human emotion grounded and awkwardly relatable. I wanted a world that looked heightened and visually striking, but with characters who still felt like real people stumbling through life and love. Another hurdle was the logistics of creating a dystopian world on a short film shoestring budget… because let’s face it, sci-fi is expensive, and our budget definitely wasn’t.
We got creative with production design, most of the story is in a single room, so we had to make it feel engaging without breaking the bank. A mix of practical and simple VFX, clever camera work, lighting, and little details helped make the world feel bigger than it actually was. Working closely with Joanna and Arron was crucial, we were constantly bouncing ideas off each other, improvising on set, and not afraid to scrap or tweak things in the moment.
In the end, all these obstacles forced us to be more inventive, and honestly, it made the process way more fun. I think that energy and chaos comes through on screen and maybe a little of our stress too!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
The festival circuit has been amazing, we had our world premiere at Manchester Film Festival and 3 other BIFA qualifying festivals. It’s been so rewarding to see how audiences react in real time, especially when they laugh, cringe, or feel moved by the characters’ awkward, relatable moments.
Every film I make leaves room for interpretation and I like giving people the chance to come up with wildly different takes on the story’s metaphors, symbolism and concept. Honestly, sometimes I listen to someone’s interpretation and think, “Wow… I didn’t even notice that!", or "That was darker than what I had in mind" and at times "You're spot on, you just said exactly what I had in mind". Meeting fellow filmmakers and audiences who really get the world we were trying to create has been amazing. But the absolute best part of Plop? Watching it spark conversations about connection, dating, and human vulnerability… and realising that, just like my characters, people are awkward, confused, and completely winging it when it comes to love. Makes me feel a little less alone, and hopefully makes them laugh too, because in the world we are living now, we just have to have some laughs in our lives.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
My biggest advice? Embrace the chaos. Short films are tiny worlds with tiny budgets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make them look beautiful. Be creative, flexible, and a little fearless. Use your limitations as an advantage, turn a one-room set into a whole universe, and don’t be afraid to improvise on set. Feed your crew good food, happy people make better films. And most importantly, don’t take yourself too seriously; if you can laugh at your mistakes, the audience probably will too.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Might be a completely different genre but I really love Monster by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Interested in getting your work selected?
Busy
Emma-Leigh and her friends decide to put their next date in the diary, but it proves harder than they anticipate.
Written & Produced Megan Smith
Directed by Jane Moriarty
Emma-Leigh and her friends decide to put their next date in the diary, but it proves harder than they anticipate.
ABOUT THE FILM
BUSY screened earlier this year at our BIFA Qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival. Additionally it’s played at Brighton Rocks Film Festival & Spirit of Independence Film Festival, both also BIFA qualifiers.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Jane Moriarty is a theatre and film director, working in the UK and Ireland. Jane directed SHUSH, a 25-minute drama produced by Charmer Pictures for RTÉ, written by and starring Liv O’Donoghue. It can be streamed on the RTE Player. Jane’s debut short film KITCHEN TALES, is now featured on BFI Player Her second film, I CALLED YOU, recently screened at the IFTA and BAFTA-qualifying IndieCork Film Festival. Jane was the Rehearsal Director for Sky comedy-drama series THE LOVERS, working with the lead cast prior to filming and during production. And she was a voice and performance director on the BAFTA-winning video game, BALDUR’S GATE 3. Jane was awarded the Young Directors Silver Screen Award 2025 for SHUSH.
Megan Smith is an actor, writer and producer for theatre and film. Megan's latest film BUSY, has qualified for BIFA 2025.. Her other comedy films received international recognition. SURGEONS (2021 ) was selected for BAFTA qualifying Bolton Film Festival and won 6 awards. BEST FRIENDS (2020) won 9 film festival awards. Other producing credits include I CALLED YOU AND ROBOT LADY. Megan is currently producing FROG, a short film written by Rebecca Crookshank about IVF, to be filmed later this year.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH MEGAN
Tell us about the genesis of Busy. 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?
Busy came after I observed several conversations with friends. I noticed people were very quick to make out I was the busiest person in the room, or that I had to send dates to find a time to meetup, but when it came down to it, everyone was actually as busy as each other. We all have different commitments in our lives, albeit children, family, work or selfcare, but sometimes it's easy to see yourself as the least busy because then you're not the problem. I thought it would be funny to have a double ending, just to show it wasn't about being mean. I talked about the idea for a while. to gauge the connectivity, and if other people would relate, and then I wrote the script very quickly and then went about trying to get it made.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Busy and how did you overcome them?
As with many films, we were constrained by budget and scheduling. We used a minimal crew and an empty location (pub was closed!) to make sure we could get the most out of the day.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
Hearing BUSY with a live audience for the first time was amazing, as you could slowly hear the slow reveal being realised by the audience. Making people laugh, who you don't know, is the best thing in the world.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Work with people who are as caring and enthusiastic as you are.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Check out SHUSH by our very own talented Jane Moriarty.
Interested in getting your work selected?
P is for Penis
An overdue catch up down the pub between two old friends is thrown into chaos by the inclusion of a terrifying third wheel with an embarrassing secret.
Written, Produced & Directed by Joe Mcgowan
An overdue catch up down the pub between two old friends is thrown into chaos by the inclusion of a terrifying third wheel with an embarrassing secret.
ABOUT THE FILM
P is for Penis was a Semi-Finalist at our BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival in 2024. It also won the Audience Choice award at the BIFA Qualifying Exit 6 Film Festival. Other notable festival highlights include the BIFA Qualifying Sunderland Short Film Festival and The Shortest Nights, The Romford Film Festival, London Lift-Off Film Festival, and the Funny Life Film Festival where it was nominated for Best Screenplay. Other awards include Best Micro Short and Best British Film at the Lit Laughs International Comedy Film Festival, Best Comedy Film at the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Screenplay Festival, Best Comedy Short at the London Seasonal Short Film Festival, and Best UK Comedy at the London Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Joe is a London born and Essex-raised filmmaker with over ten years of experience as a director and editor in the TV commercial and branded content world. Comedy caught his eyes and ears at a young age, listening to Blackadder cassette tapes late into the night and being shattered for school the next day. His love of comedy and passion for filmmaking allow him to explore the funny, silly, and absurd and have an absolute blast doing so! Joe’s comedy work has racked up millions of views across social media, won numerous awards at film festivals in the UK and internationally, and has been featured on BBC Radio. Not bad for an Essex boy!
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH JOE
Welcome back to our Short of the Week series. What have you been up to since we featured your last short Couple Noises ?
Thanks for having me back! It’s been a busy year for me. Have been up and down the country on the festival run with P is for Penis, have worked with British comedy legends Kimberly Nixon (Fresh Meat) and Simon Greenall (I’m Alan Partridge) on some training videos for a company set up by John Cleese in the 1980’s, worked with Kelly Brooke and Big Narstie on a campaign for SlimFast, and most importantly got married in June. How time flies!
Tell us about the genesis of P Is For Penis. 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?
My end goal is to work in sitcoms, so I treated this as practice in creating a scene that you’d expect to see in a sitcom show. Comedy and conflict are my happy place when watching films or TV shows, and I’ve always found the dynamic of someone oversharing a secret about another person in a social setting a great setting for some real comedic sparks to fly.
I don’t know exactly how I landed on a misshapen penis being somebody's deepest and darkest secret, but once I thought of it the ball started rolling from there. The big question was what peculiar shape could it be to create a double-take moment in the film, but also lead to some snappy jokes for the script. I was in the car with my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time) and was brainstorming this out loud to her. I started going through shape options like a square, a triangle, a parallelogram, before moving onto letters from the alphabet. I thought a lower-case ‘T’ would be funny and said that a ‘T’ with two O’s from the testicles would spell the word ‘Too’, and maybe there’s a joke there. My wife, who this isn’t her sense of humour at all, turned to me and said ‘Well, if his penis was shaped like the letter ‘P’, it would spell the word ‘Poo’. I simply looked at her adoringly and said I love you so much, and quickly came up with the title after she said that. I started writing it in December 2023, and by March 2024, the film was done and dusted, and I proposed to my wife to be!
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making P Is For Penis and how did you overcome them?
The main challenge was time. I hired a pub called The Virgin Queen in Bethnal Green for eight hours, 7am-3pm. The pub opened at 4pm and the script was 13 pages long. I had originally planned some more cinematic shots with a dolly and track, some fun POV shots with a fish eye lens, and a dramatic lighting change when Perry realises Tim and Dom know about his appendage. Very quickly into the shoot, those bells and whistles were cut. We were shooting on two cameras (thank God), and we locked them off and cross-shot all the coverage. It still has that sitcom feel to it that I wanted, but it also comes across as an extended sketch rather than a cinematic short film, like I’d originally intended. It was a big lesson in what you can realistically achieve with a tight turnaround.
The other challenge was shooting the nudity. The pub was fine with it as long as we covered the windows so the public couldn’t see anything. The problem with that was that the windows had no curtains, and there were a lot of windows. When it came to shooting those shots, we used an old trick I’d learnt from a gaffer to block light out quickly from windows. We sprayed the windows with window cleaner from a spray bottle and stuck sheets of tin foil on them. Took fifteen minutes to block out all the windows with the whole crew on board. Would highly recommend this method if you’re in a pinch.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
Sitting in an audience when P is for Penis is screening has been a real treat. Overall, it’s had a fantastic reception and get’s lot of laughs, which, as the writer, director, producer, and editor of the film, is amazing to hear live. It’s become a BIFA qualifying short, been played on BBC Radio as a radio sketch, and won multiple awards at film festivals. The highlight on the festival circuit was winning the Audience Choice awards at the BIFA Qualifying Exit 6 Film Festival. The films that were winning all the awards were incredibly cinematic films, with heavy subject matters, and had funding from the BFI and other film funding outlets. To see my self-funded short about a maniac with a funny shaped knob standing with these juggernaughts in the short film world was very gratifying for me.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
‘Bad Thoughts’, Tom Segura’s Netflix sketch show, is a must watch for any twisted sickos like myself. If you like my film, this is a show you need to check out.
I’d like to recommend some short films I’ve seen over the last year that stood out to me. James Button’s latest absurd short, ‘The Quackening’, is a must see. Twenty minutes of non-stop madness and big laughs. ‘Daddy Superior’, directed by Benjamin Partridge. Such a wholesome and hilarious masterpiece of a short film. This is the perfect small cast and one location comedy short. ‘Us & In Between’ directed by Katia Shannon. A wonderful, heartwarming tale of two people finding love in their later years. Beautifully shot too.
What are you working on next?
Earlier this year, I directed a National Film & Television School comedy short called Pushing Up Plastic. Set in the near future, a couple finds out their microplastic test results from their solicitor to see if they can be legally buried without becoming an environmental hazard, or risk being recycled. It’s got a Wes Anderson meets Edgar Wright aesthetic to it, and it's been a lot of fun to work on. It should be on the film festival circuit next year.
I’m slowly writing a short mockumentary called Good Egg, which revolves around an omelette chef who works in a Chinese restaurant, so he rarely has anything to do. I’m also writing a sitcom pilot that’s a mash up of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia meets Lord of the Rings.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Amina
As a way of mastering her skills, Amina takes on every new relationship as a chance to perfect her cooking.
Written, Produced & Directed by Christie Fewry
A girl tries her best to master love through her artistic expression of cooking. She learns as quickly as she keeps making mistakes. For her, making the perfect dish and finding love is an act of service to herself that she is relentless on achieving. This micro-short film is based on West African, Sierra Leone/British women who love to cook.
ABOUT THE FILM
Aminia had it’s UK Premiere at the Manchester Film Festival and it’s London Premiere at the New Renaissance Film Festival where it also received an Honourable Mention for Best Short Short. It won the Black Power Award at the Reale Film Festival and it was nominated for the Best Micro Short Award at the Wolverhampton Film Festival. Other festival highlights include Women Of The Lens Film Festival, Spark Micro-Short Film Festival, FILMSshort Online Film Festival, Atlanta Micro Short Film 2024, and the Austin Micro Film Festival.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Christie Fewry is a natural storyteller, actor and filmmaker, who recently graduated from Rose Bruford College in BA Acting. She produced her debut award-winning short film, Amina, which had its UK premiere at the BAFTA and BIFA qualifying Manchester Film Festival, then received an Honourable Mention at the New Renaissance Film Festival. Amina earned a total of nine festival selections worldwide. Christie made her stage debut in the world premiere of The Great Privation: How To Flip Ten Cents Into a Dollar at Theatre503. Beyond acting and filmmaking, Christie delves into her spiritual experiences through her writing, with her poems published in Breadfruit magazine’s Black British Writers Feature Project.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTIE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I’m Christie Fewry, a London-based actor and emerging filmmaker of Sierra Leonean heritage. I made my debut as a writer-director with Amina, a micro-short that explores love, identity and heritage through the act of cooking. My background is in performance, I graduated from Rose Bruford College with a First Class in BA Acting but storytelling has always been at the heart of my creative journey.
As a filmmaker, I'm fascinated with the stories of the women around me, and I’m always drawn to intimate, character-driven stories centring African and Black-British women and girls. Amina was made with heart and community, and it’s been incredibly affirming to see it resonate on the festival circuit, especially making its UK Premiere at Manchester Film Festival. I screened my second short film, Made of A Million, in 2025 and am now developing my third short. I’m excited to continue building stories that feel both grounded and bold.
Tell us about the genesis of Amina. 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?
Growing up, I observed women in my family commit to one specific stereotypical gender role, which was to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and this bothered me. Rebelliously, I observed their behaviour from a place of judgment. However, as I investigated the reasoning behind why they cooked so much, I found it was their love language. A way of presenting and expressing their artistry as a gift to the family and with every dish they strived for excellence. This inspired me to write Amina and explore the parallels of a young woman cooking the perfect dish and finding love. Her relentlessness causes her to move on quickly from mistakes in order to create what she knows she deserves, whether it is through cooking or a new relationship.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Amina and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest obstacles I faced making Amina was working with limited resources while being far from home. It was a self-funded, micro-budget project costing 900 GBP, and I was making it in Los Angeles without an established network. Every decision from locations to the size of the crew had to be incredibly intentional. On top of that, finding the right collaborators in an unfamiliar city felt daunting.
That changed when I attended a screening and saw a short film that really moved me. I reached out to the DP, Isaak Kimmel, and to my surprise and gratitude, he connected with Amina and came on board. That moment reminded me of the power of sharing your vision and not being afraid to ask, even as a new filmmaker. In the end, what felt like limitations became a source of strength. They pushed me to focus on the emotional core of the story and lean into creativity, collaboration, and belief in the work and in myself.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
Getting Amina to audiences has been such a rewarding journey. The film screened at Manchester Film Festival as a UK Premiere, was nominated for Best Micro Short at Wolverhampton Film Festival, and received an Honourable Mention for Best Short Short at the New Renaissance Film Festival, each moment felt like a meaningful nod to the story and the work behind it. One of the most special highlights was screening at the National Youth Theatre, where the film was watched by a room full of young, aspiring creatives, the kind of audience I deeply hope Amina connects with. Now that the festival circuit has wrapped, I’m excited for it to live online through Kino Short of The Week and continue reaching new viewers.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
My biggest piece of advice is, start with what you have. Amina began as a poem, and I had a very clear moving image in my head that I couldn’t ignore. I didn’t wait for the “perfect” conditions, I used what I had, trusted the story, and let that lead the way. Also, don’t be afraid to submit to festivals, even the ones that feel “too big.” I almost didn’t apply to Manchester Film Festival because I thought it was out of my league, but it ended up being one of the most affirming experiences of the journey. Take the risk. Let your film travel further than your doubt allows.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
The Photograph (2020), Soul (2020), Molly's Game (2017), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and The Woman King (2022).
What are you working on next?
Next, I'm working on a new short called Pageant Sweet, that's sits in the sports drama genre. The Premise is a competitive and desperate young woman wants to win a beauty pageant, to pay back a loan shark but her biggest competitor is winning. Using her beauty, she turns to the pageant sponsors for help. When that fails, she goes to extreme lengths to win.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Satisfaction
Georgian England. A society lady raises her pistol to duel with her aristocratic mentor over a grave insult.
Directed by Bailey Tom Bailey
Written BY Christopher Buckley
Produced by Marek Lichtenberg & Nathan Craig
Georgian England. A society lady raises her pistol to duel with her aristocratic mentor over a grave insult.
ABOUT THE FILM
Satisfaction was an Official Selection at our very own BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival in 2024 where it was nominated for Best Score. Other festival highlights include the Oscar Qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island IFF, the BAFTA qualifying Bolton IFF, the four other BIFA qualifying festivals including Exit 6 (Nominated for Best Editing), Crystal Palace IFF, Brighton Rocks FF, and Sunderland SFF.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Bailey Tom Bailey has made many shorts and music videos that have played international BIFA, BAFTA & OSCAR qualifying festivals and online platforms including Short of the Week, Slamdance, Fright Fest, Berlinale, LSFF, Rhode Island, Bolton, Nowness, Omeleto, 1.4 awards, Shiny awards, and have won several awards along the way. He also works as an editor and sometimes VFX artist for clients including Nike, Adidas, Somesuch, AMV, BBH, Dazed. He has a background in painting, is an alumnus of Arts University College Bournemouth, Berlinale Talent Campus and has studied Meisner acting and improv comedy. Bailey is developing several features and a series based on Satisfaction.
Christopher Buckley is an actor and writer. He has written two shorts, including Satisfaction and a play ‘Third Grade’ performed at the online ‘8x8’ theatre festival in May 2020. Chris was a lead part in the original cast of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. He has performed onstage across the UK and Europe, winning the Theatrepreis Hamburg Rolfe Mares award for ‘Best Actor’ in 2017 for ‘Orphans’. He has also recorded various radio and audio dramas for BBC4 and Audible. Through his writing, he hopes to champion and elevate neglected stories and characters, both onscreen and onstage.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH BAILEY
Tell us about the genesis of Satisfaction and your motivation for making this film.
I (Bailey) and Christopher connected through Centerframe's Get It Made competition. Christopher had written a script about petticoat duels (duels between women), which were uncommon but happened throughout history. In his research, he found a famous Georgian cartoon of two women duelling with pistols, and the script grew from there. We were fascinated by how Georgian social structures were dehumanising these old friends, making them rivals. Over the course of the script, they rediscover their humanity, their mercy. Chris developed a brilliant Georgian slang that had me looking up various words, but gave the project a unique voice and tone. In later drafts, I encouraged Chris to draw out the duel and heighten the suspense, an approach that continued into production, where I took cues from how Sergio Leone built his shootouts.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Satisfaction and how did you overcome them?
Fields. It's surprisingly hard to find a field / landscape that offered compositional possibilities, where you don't risk some member of the public slowly traipsing across the back of the frame. We realised the answer was to find a location that had private grounds, likely a stately home. However, these came with a hefty price tag, and often their lawns were too manicured. Finally, one of our producers Nathan Craig, found a stately home (that anecdotally, had briefly been owned by Led Zepplin) that wasn't on a location library, which was sympathetic to our project and had natural and photogenic grounds.
As we led up to the shoot day it was forecast to rain on our second day, but didn't feel we could move everything. So we crossed our fingers - and the gods laughed. It was torrential and our morning was mostly rained out. To cover ourselves, we had shot longer on our first day, then on the second we worked under cover for close-ups and grabbed the remaining necessary shots in a brief dry patch at day's end.
Photo Credit: DEVIN DE VIL @ licence to capture
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
Post on a short can be slow but we managed to complete this within 5 month, with a deadline for a screening hosted by our funders Centerframe. Iron Box Films came on as a partner to fund the festival run. We quickly got it onto the festival circuit and focused on BIFA qualifying events. The film is short and fairly punchy so was often programmed towards the end of blocks as a big finish or pick-me-up before people left. It was nice to see the film, an intended audience pleaser, was landing with gasps, 'oo's and 'no's in the right place. Kino London gave us our first nomination for Andreas Aaser's score, which I believe was much deserved. Music is such an important part of my films and Andreas is very gifted and imaginative. Rhode Island gave us our US premiere and Bolton International film festival also stood out as a great experience.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Keep it short of focus the story and make it easy to programme. Keep it in one location so its easier to produce. iIf you're trying to make something that opens doors - keep the audience in mind.
Plan as much as you can, I storyboard everything myself, which is the final re-write before shooting (until we edit, of course!), which saves time.
Have an idea for every department, and brief them as clearly as you can.
Get the best cast you can! Our casting director, Chloe Blake was really helpful, she works with the National Theatre and has her ear to the ground about new talent.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Once Upon a Time in the West, is a film I thought about a lot during the making of this film, as with the rest of the dollars trilogy, its inventive, plays with audience expectation and has such an operatic quality. It's climax's and pure cinema and I get the buzz I get when I watch a Hitchcock movie that you can see what the director is doing, which I always find thrilling.
Sweet Smell of Success, a noir-drama that I thought of because in his book 'On Filmmaking' the director Alexander Mackendrick (a Brit making his first US film) said he had been given a 'wordy' script but the writer Clifford Odett's (a famous playwright) told him - 'just do it fast'. I thought about that when dealing with the stylised language of Satisfaction. I also marvelled at the blocking of the film and stole moments from it. I'm a huge fan of the blocking of mid-centrury movies (40s-60s).
Days of Heaven - is always and inspiration for its editing, structure and elliptical storytelling, but this time I was thinking about the photography. Along with the paintings of Andrew Wyeth, this film helped me figure out the look and composition of the landscape. It was pivotal in me picking a location that have long grass that was somewhat yellowing, like corn, but not as difficult to work around.
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, Adam Curtis' documentary, draws incredible connections between obscure historical figures, science, philosophy, politics and society - I believe these alternative versions of history are a little subjective, but the ideas and stories had my jaw on the floor every ten minutes. Expanding Saisfactions' historical subject into a series we're constantly finding the roots of social concepts we now take for granted and Curtis will be in my mind when doing this.
What are you working on next?
We’re developing Satisfaction into a limited series about Ann and Belinda becoming hired guns fighting for women’s honour.
I’m also developing a few features, and packaging one caled Torn Velvet, about a fashion marketer who unravels when she discovers that the sight of safety pins triggers orgasmic, spiritually awakening seizues.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Swimming
A film about a girl who wants to be a fish…
Written & Directed by Gregory Randolph Jr.
Produced by Stanley Mathews
Cinematography by Bethany Yang
A film about a girl who wants to be a fish…
ABOUT THE FILM
SWIMMING premiered at Animal Nature Future Film Festival. It appeared at 2 iterations of Day Dream Fantasy Youth Festival in Glasgow, Scotland and Milan, Italy, as well as being selected for the Earls Court International Film Festival (UK), Goa International Film Festival (India), Canal Dream ICI as part of the London Design Festival, and the Lift Off Global Network Sessions 2023 Jury Choice.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Gregory Randolph Jr. (writer/director) was born in New York City and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduating from Providence College in Rhode Island he moved back to New York to pursue a career in filmmaking. There he worked as a video editor for NBC Universal, ABC News, and HBO. He started his own production company Grandolp Media in 2016. Greg enrolled in the MA filmmaking program at London Film School in 2021. Greg is currently working on a feature film which he is developing now.
Stanley Mathews (producer) is an Indian-born, Qatar-raised filmmaker and producer known for his captivating storytelling. With a Bachelor of Arts in Filmmaking from Whistling Woods India and a Master of Arts in International Film Business from the University of Exeter and the London Film School, Stanley has worked on over 15 short films, some available on Disney+ Hotstar India. He has also directed brand videos with 400k social media views and co-produced the upcoming Indian Feature documentary "Rest in Manhole." Recent credits include the Doha Film Institute Granted short film "Project: Aisha ", Swimming & Different Faces (16mm, 35mm) supported by Kodak & shot on film.
Bethany Yang (cinematographer) is a cinematographer and gaffer from Harbin, China. She enrolled at the London Film School in 2021. Since then she has DoP'd over 15 grad films from London Film School and worked extensively in the camera and lighting department for film and television.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH GREGORY
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Sure, I've been making films for quite a while. I was born in New York City and raised in Boston. I was always making short movies with my friends growing up. I did my undergrad at Providence College as an English major and film minor. I made a short documentary on a music venue and a short narrative. I also did a short experimental film called Purgatory Brook with a friend from BU who has an assignment to do somehting in the vein of David Lynch.
I worked as a video editor after college. I lived in New York and worked for the television show Open House NYC and National as a segment and show editor. I worked on all aspects of post-production from ingest of footage to delivery of the final show for broadcast internationally.
I joined the London Film School in 2021. There I made several shorts both narrative and documentary. Swimming is an independent film I made in between terms at LFS. We shot it on 16mm film and had a wonderful time making it. I am glad its received recognition and I have a brilliant cast and crew to thank for helping me make this film a reality.
Tell us about the genesis of Swimming and your motivation for making this film.
Swimming is about a girl who wants to be a fish. I got the idea one day after another shoot we had just wrapped. A friend of mine brought a book out of a bookshop we were having a coffee at. I thought it odd and asked if she had stolen the book. She didn't have a receipt or bag. For some reason, it got in my head - what if someone was stealing books from a bookshop because they didn't want to confront the cashier with what it was they were reading? As if they were embarrassed about the contents of the book. That was the genesis of Swimming. To me, Swimming is about achieving want you want in life and finding your "school" or community.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Swimming and how did you overcome them?
We wanted to shoot from film and challenge ourselves in that regard. Finding an affordable way to shoot the film and rent the camera equipment necessary was difficult. We have Kodak London to thank for offering an affordable rate to shoot film. We have the now inactive Pro Cam Take 2 for offering the camera equipment necessary to make the project. We also tapped Student Union Lighting at the London Film School for all the necessary lighting equipment and camera dolly.
The film was also about explaining the world of the film to the actors. A world in which it is possible to become a fish. The film is metaphorical but I wanted to find that line between metaphorical and real. That is what makes the movie special.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
It took some time to find an audience for Swimming as it usually does with a new film from an emerging filmmaker. There is often a lot of rejection and self-doubt when trying to find a home for a film you spent so much of your time and thought on. We were very happy when an LFS alumni-run film festival Animal Nature Future Film Festival saw merit in the project. We premiered the film and it has been received very well by audiences since then. I was able to speak in front of an audience at ANFFF. It was then accepted at the Day Dream Fantasy Youth Festival in Glasgow. I was able to go there to speak about the film. Since then it has had some other nice film festival placements in Milan, Goa, India, and at Earls Court International Film Festival. We are very excited to have Swimming be a part of Kino Short of the Week. Swimming was also recently accepted to the Ukrainian short film festival Max Sir International Film Festival. Swimming will be shown at Lviv Art Palace in Ukraine. It will also be screened at over 100 schools in small towns and villages where children have limited access to international films.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Just make it. Try and write something possible within your means, but dream big. Think about the simplicity of Swimming's log line. A girl who wants to be a fish. There is a lot possible there. I hope one can watch Swimming and be inspired to think conceptually about whatever it is you are looking to make. We made this film on a very small budget and it is now being shown all over the world. You can make a film with a limited budget and still receive praise for it if that is what you wish. For me, I am grateful to my co-collaborators for achieving the things we did within our means. I am happy others can watch the film and be inspired by it.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I just watched Kneecap and enjoyed it. It's a nice mix of storytelling sensibilities, but also something fresh about it. And the rapping is absolutely terrific. I highly recommend it.
What are you working on next?
My grad film from London Film School, Different Faces is currently in the film festival selection process. We are excited to announce its premiere soon.
A short film script I wrote was recently accepted to the Linz International Short Film Festival Talent Academy. They offer a short film lab with residencies at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Linz International Short Film Festival. The lab also offers courses to improve the script and market the film. I will start the lab in January and am very much looking forward to making the next film. It's about a failing actress who is looking for the next step in her career.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Slay
Living with flatmates can be tough. Living with an influencer can be even tougher. Phoebe, Jade and Heather have had enough and conspire to 'deal with' Danielle once and for all.
Written, Directed & Produced by Fran St. Clair
Living with flatmates can be tough. Living with an influencer can be even tougher. Phoebe, Jade and Heather have had enough and conspire to 'deal with' Danielle once and for all.
ABOUT THE FILM
SLAY screened at Sunday Shorts, Nightmares Film Festival, the Greenwich Film Festival (where Fran St Clair won for Emerging Actor) Boundless Film Festival (where it won a Special Mention), Rome Prisma, Poor Life Choices (winning Best Horror Comedy Short), Independent Shorts Awards (winning Best Dark Comedy Short) and Women’s Comedy Film Festival in Atlanta
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Fran St Clair is an award-winning actor, writer, and director based in London. What started as an actor's desire to create her own roles evolved into the founding of Myrtle Tree Studios. Her passion for comedic storytelling was sparked by SLAY, leading her to focus on writing comedy. Her latest surreal comedy, NICE PACKAGE, is currently in post-production, and she also stars in her co-created web series DO WE EAT HIM. The series has quickly gained attention worldwide, racking up 70,000 views in just over a week, with plans to bring it into the mainstream. Other notable projects include GREENSLEEVES INC., a co-written sustainability satire that won the 2024 VMI Sustainable Script competition. Fran will take on the lead role of eco-fashion influencer Fleur in the upcoming film, which is set to premiere at the BIFA-Qualifying Crystal Palace Film Festival in March 2025.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH FRAN
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Thank you so much for featuring SLAY as part of your Short Film of the Week series! My name is Fran St Clair and I’m the writer, directer, producer of the film. Oh, and I also play Jade! My journey into filmmaking has been a little different as my main passion is acting. I’ve always loved storytelling and I’ve acted for as long as I can remember, so naturally with the unpredictable nature of this industry I decided that if I wanted to keep working on creative projects I would have to start making my own. That’s how SLAY was born. Prior to this, I’d made another film called CAKE earlier in 2023 which was my first little experimental short with just me and my DoP and friend Jay Fisher. After that experience, I decided I wanted to make something bigger, better, less serious and much more ridiculous. So I gathered all of my amazingly talented filmmaker and actor friends and we got to work.
Tell us about the genesis of slay and your motivation for making this film.
The SLAY journey began in December 2022 with the intention of writing a flatmate horror story. There were few people in my life at the time that has shared their annoyances with flat sharing. People leaving their dirty dishes in the sink for weeks, using up and never replacing the toilet roll, helping themselves to snacks that aren’t theirs and so on. I also love stories about unlikeable characters and the complexities of female friendships and thought it would be a really fun premise for a short. So, I took all of these flatmate dramas, threw in some unlikeable characters and thought of what the worst case scenario could be when you’ve absolutely had enough. I knew from the very start that I wanted my friends Kelsey Cooke and Charlotte Pathe (who are amazing actors) to take on the roles of Heather and Phoebe. This made the writing process super easy as I pictured all of their voices so strongly and knew we would have so much fun together in these roles. I wanted the film to be fun, camp and feminine and even though it’s a comedy and the surface level themes are unserious, the characters are also complex and emotionally intelligent. Once we had the script, we found the talented India Plummer to take on the role of the terrible ‘Influencer' flatmate Danielle and we were all set. Some of my references included Mean Girls, Heathers and Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Tell us about the genesis of Slay and your motivation for making this film.
We had a fair few obstacles when making this film! It was made on a very low budget. Though we did raise some funds through crowdfunding, like most things it would have been much easier with some more money. We also booked a location that didn’t quite look like the photos, so we had to do some re-jigging when it came to our floor plans. The house next door was also having an entire renovation happening. So that was a nice surprise. During filming for the living room scene we had to stop and start quite a few times whenever they starting drilling and banging - which was the whole day. I was so lucky to have such an amazing and passionate team around me that really believed in the vision and worked so hard to make it happen. So obstacles aside this film was such a dream to make!
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Slay and how did you overcome them?
We had a fair few obstacles when making this film! It was made on a very low budget. Though we did raise some funds through crowdfunding, like most things it would have been much easier with some more money. We also booked a location that didn’t quite look like the photos, so we had to do some re-jigging when it came to our floor plans. The house next door was also having an entire renovation happening. So that was a nice surprise. During filming for the living room scene we had to stop and start quite a few times whenever they starting drilling and banging - which was the whole day. I was so lucky to have such an amazing and passionate team around me that really believed in the vision and worked so hard to make it happen. So obstacles aside this film was such a dream to make!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
After a few selections, SLAY had its first in person screening at Big Fridge Film Festival which was really exciting. Some of the team were able to join and it was exciting seeing it up on the big screen. I have a few other shots in the works right now so the hope is to do a special screening event for all of them in the future.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Not sure I’m in the position yet to impart wisdom, but I do feel like I’m always learning. I think the most important thing is having a great team around you that share your vision. If you don’t have those people yet you’ll find them, that’s why networking events and festival screenings are so great because you can meet so may interesting and talented people. Another piece of advice to offer would just be if you have an idea - write it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t make it, getting something down on paper is the only way you’ll ever start.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Sticking to comedy, Bottoms by Emma Seligman was an instant 5 star from me. Then leaning more towards drama, Scrapper by Charlotte Regan. Loved it.
What are you working on next?
I have a few things in the works right now that are keeping me nice and busy. I’m in pre-production for my next short film Nice Package which is filming at the end of January. Another comedy but this one is a more dreamy and surreal approach to the mundane life of a very bored young woman. I’m also working on another short film called Lava Cake with my friend and collaborator Govind Chandran, as well as a Zom-Com mini series.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Animal Behavior
A skilled wildlife foley artist has his methods challenged by a newcomer with an innate understanding of animal behavior.
Written & Directed BY Adrian Delcan
A skilled wildlife foley artist has his methods challenged by a newcomer with an innate understanding of animal behavior.
ABOUT THE FILM
ANIMAL BEHAVIOR won the Audience Award at the 2023 National Film Festival for Talented Youth and Best Actor at the New York City Independent Film Festival. Other festival highlights include the Crested Butte Film Festival, LA Shorts International Film Festival, Anchorage International Film Festival, Waco Independent Film Festival, and PÖFF Shorts (Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia).
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Adrian Delcan is a filmmaker originally from Southern California. His writing often features blood and broken families. He was a writer on Judas, the latest game by BioShock creator Ken Levine. His debut feature film, Old Man, is completed and will be released in January 2025.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ADRIAN
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I was a suburb kid; I grew up an hour from Los Angeles in Orange County. Being this close to Hollywood gave my friends and me a lot of motivation. We felt like it was possible to make the kinds of movies we loved. We worked on tons of short films - most of which I would never want anyone to see, and others I still take lessons from. I found out early on that a great script made the process of filmmaking feel a lot freer, so I started focusing on writing. I went to college for film production and then after graduating I got a job as a writer on a Triple A video game. Now, I’ll be releasing my first feature in January 2025.
Making movies has always been my team sport. I love working with passionate and creative people in development, on set, or in the cutting room. It’s a joy I’ve experienced since I was a kid, and it hasn’t changed a bit all these years later.
Tell us about the genesis of Animal Behavior and your motivation for making this film.
I had only made short films until the feature, and coming off a 90-minute project, I was eager to work on something smaller again. I wanted to experiment with all the tools I had learned, and Animal Behavior became the result of those interests. My goal was to create a singular POV, use lots of camera movement and zooms, and to collaborate with the very funny Ben Fiorica (the lead). Ben had never acted before, but he was a good friend and I knew he had great command of his gestures, all of which are very idiosyncratic. I thought his qualities would contribute beautifully to the lonely, strange, and obsessive protagonist I was writing. I redrafted the script many times after conversations with Ben - we talked a great deal about how we could make this guy really pathetic and jealous, much of which we shot but ultimately had to leave out of the final export. The first cut of this was twice the length.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Animal Behavior and how did you overcome them?
Animal Behavior was my thesis project in college, and the school that I went to had a fantastic production system that all students were required to follow when making their films. It kept us accountable and taught us a lot about industry standard procedures, but it also came with some incredibly frustrating restrictions. To my crew’s surprise, our school didn’t allow us to film inside their foley studio, so we had to build a four-walled set of a foley studio in a stage about fifty-feet from the real one. Luckily, my production designer, Jen Ledbury, was incredible. With the encouragement of the college’s art department, she was able to raise a barn despite very limited resources. Ultimately, I was really happy we got to make our own; it gave us a lot more control over the way it looked on camera and allowed us to design a floorplan around blocking ideas. I admire Jen’s talent and determination, and I’m very proud of the set we created.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
We were fortunate to have several opportunities to screen Animal Behavior in theaters around the world, and it’s been very rewarding to hear the reactions from all these different audiences. It was particularly special to screen the movie downtown at LA Shorts and at NFFTY in Seattle. When I watch it on the big screen I still notice new things Ben and Winston were doing... I’m always grateful for the chance to show it in a theater, but I’m especially excited to finally release it online for a digital audience through Kino Short Film!
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
I think that a carefully designed schedule can be a very creative tool for directors working with limited resources. Further than just being conscious of your cast and crew’s stamina, it’s also a way of preparing your priorities for each sene before walking into the day.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I’ll recommend some movies that inspired Animal Behavior. While writing, I was thinking a lot about the ending of Denis’s Beau Travail. It’s ridiculous, it’s like coming up for air after ninety minutes underwater.
I really wanted to do something as shocking and poignant, but the ending in Animal Behavior was much darker and I don’t think it could’ve be treated differently.
I’ve thought about how I would adapt this into a feature, and the movie I always come back to is Altman’s 3 Women. I think I would bring the character’s obsession into a realm of identity crisis, like we see in that story.
My DP, Raviteja, and I really wanted to make our movie look dark, with lots and lots of shadows. We studied some interior scenes, lit with one or two practicals, in Coppola’s The Conversation and Wender’s The American Friend. Beyond their beauty, they also feature brilliantly crafted sequences. They don’t feel like they needed to compromise anything for how gorgeous they look.
Apply to get your short selected as our Weekly Pick
10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed
It's the end of Ava and George's third date... and they've gone home together. Sexual tension is high. Things are getting steamy. But they're a bit rusty, a bit out of sync. Will it be a night of magic or will it all prove too hot to handle?
Director/Cinematographer Maximilian Newcombe
Written by Kerry Bruce
ProduceD BY Dominic Varney & Mia Nuttgens
It's the end of Ava and George's third date... and they've gone home together. Sexual tension is high. Things are getting steamy. But they're a bit rusty, a bit out of sync. Will it be a night of magic or will it all prove too hot to handle?
ABOUT THE FILM
10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed was an Official Selection at the London Lift- Off Film Festival and received an Honourable Mention at Margate Film Festival.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Maximilian Newcombe is an Essex-based filmmaker and camera operator who has worked on projects for a huge number of businesses big and small, and has shot a number of award-winning short films in a wide variety of different genres.
Kerry Bruce is a Scottish Traveller and writer with a passion for comedy and storytelling. She studied at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and was a member of the Royal Court Writers Group. Her stage work has been performed at venues such as the Southwark Playhouse and the Wee Red Bar. Kerry's screenwriting credits include the short film Money Dance by AnyThink Films, and she has also contribute to the Cake Theatre podcast.
Dominic Varney is a London-based songwriter and actor. He studied at The University of Manchester before graduating from The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in 2019. This year Dominic graduated as a composer from the course, Book, Music & Lyrics, and recently showcased his 2nd year work on a musical adaptation of Miss Congeniality at Crazy Coqs in London. He has also starred in award winning short films, and won Best Acting Duo for his performance in Light Fantastic at the Independent Shorts Awards (2021). He also has extensive experience working in Theatre In Education.
Mia Nuttgens is an actor, voiceover artist and filmmaker from South London. She studied Drama & English Literature at the University of Manchester and the MA in Classical Acting from the Central School of Speech and Drama. After graduating she co-produced 3 seasons of the CAKE podcast, working with over 40 female creatives internationally, and has worked on numerous short films including ‘La Noche de Anoche’ which she filmed in Barcelona last year. She performed the lead of Mistress Ford at the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival this summer and is currently working on an international theatrical production of Tom Sawyer, touring France and the French Islands.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH PRODUCER/ACTORS MIA & DOMINIC
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
We are Mia Nuttgens and Dominic Varney, the Producers and Actors in 10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed. We met studying Drama at the University of Manchester and performed in numerous shows together, including An Evening With The Voices In Annie's Head at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2017. We then both separately studied on the MA Acting course at the Central School of Speech and Drama and have since been performing in theatre and film, training and creating our own work.
Dominic has co-written Chosen, a pop-rock comedy musical about Sue, an IT Support Technician in her 60s, who wakes from a coma to discover half the world has been zombified. He is currently touring Chosen as part of the Rewrites showcase in partnership with The Lowry, Birmingham Hippodrome, MAST Mayflower Studios and Norwich Theatre.
Mia has just finished work as the lead Layla in Barcelona-based short ‘La Noche De Anoche’ and is currently performing in an international production of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, touring France and the French Islands.
10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed is very special to us as it is the first short either of us have ever produced.
Tell us about the genesis of 10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed and your motivation for making this film.
We originally performed 10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed as part of a theatrical writing showcase at the Southwark Theatre in partnership with the Central School of Speech and Drama MA Writing course. We loved the script, created by our brilliant writer Kerry Bruce, and thought it would make a wonderful short film especially to showcase ourselves as actors. We then asked Kerry to adapt it for screen.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making 10 Hot Steps To Be Adventurous In Bed and how did you overcome them?
The primary obstacle was sourcing the location. Originally the script was set at a bus stop so we producers, with our DoP/Director Maximillian Newcombe, took a lot of time scouting potential shoot locations in our local area. We reached out to Lambeth Council and TFL to secure permission to use the location and whilst Lambeth Council gave us permission to film, TFL refused to allow us to film anything with swearing or sexual content at a bus stop- unfortunately something we could not compromise for this film! Ultimately we decided to move the film to an indoors location which, whilst allowing for much more favourable shooting conditions, created a more intimate feel and also raised the stakes for the characters to already be back at George’s house.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
We had our screening in the heart of Lambeth at Dogstar in Brixton, which felt right as from our extensive location scouting we felt this film was very much rooted in Lambeth. We also took the opportunity to showcase other work from the creators involved in this project so hosting a mini film festival surrounded by our friends, family and collaborators was a really special moment.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Work with people and projects you trust and can have fun with! Our industry has so many talented people who are full of expertise, advice and enthusiasm, all of which we found invaluable in making our debut short.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
In terms of romantic comedies or dramas that inspired us…Harry Wootliff’s Only You is a gorgeous romance starring Josh O’Connor and Laia Costa. Before Sunrise and About Time are romantic staples!! And Ned Caderni’s short film Light Fantastic is amazing; ignore the fact that Dom is in it and that Ned edited 10 Hot Steps.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?
Simon
When Simon knocks on a couples door, he brings news that will turn their world upside down.
Written & directed by Ed Willey
ProduceD BY Rachel Foster
When Simon knocks on a couples door, he brings news that will turn their world upside down.
ABOUT THE FILM
SIMON was produced as part of the LAMDA 48hr Film Fest where it was shortlisted among Top 11. It also won the Audience Award at Super Shorts Hackney and played at other national and international film festivals.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
ED WILLEY After a revelation that he wanted to get into filmmaking right when the pandemic hit, Ed has discovered a love of writing and directing. After studying at MetFilm Ed is now a regular competitor in the London 48-hour film competition where his films have won several awards and this year was invited to be part of the jury. Ed likes to embrace the sillier side of things but also enjoys creating a bit of tension. Ed is currently deep in pre-production on a sci-fi/dark comedy short and is writing his first feature.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ed
Welcome back to our Short of the Week series. What have you been up to since we last featured your film A Real Pair?
Thanks, it's great to be back! Including Simon, we've done three 48-hour competitions (I do love a challenge!) and was just on the jury for this year's London 48-hour. I'm also now deep in pre-production for a (non-48hour) Sci-fi/Dark Comedy short which makes a nice change and I'm very excited about.
Tell us about the genesis of Simon and your motivation for making this film.
Simon was created for the inaugural LAMDA 48-hour competition, which we found out about literally as we landed back in the UK coming home from Filmapalooza in Lisbon, where we'd been attending the global 48hr festival (definitely not addicted to this form of filmmaking...). Being another 48-hour film, we knew we wanted to keep the story as simple as possible and hit upon the 'long lost child' idea almost straight away and ran with it.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Simon and how did you overcome them?
The first thing is just creating something on such a tight deadline with so few people, as this competition had a limit of eight people per team. Trying to get a complete narrative into so few pages in just a few hours is a tough task. The first draft ended up being too 'funny' all the way through, and we knew if we wanted the ending to land we had to play it straight for as long as possible.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
Once the competition ended, we really felt we had something that could play well at festivals so decided to give it a big push. Despite already being available online (due to the competition) we've had a great number of selections and picked up a good few nominations and most pleasing won a few audience awards, which are by far the most gratifying :) I like to try and travel to screenings whenever I can and getting to visit different places around the UK and experience other people seeing your work on the big screen is pretty special.
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face trying to break into the industry?
It feels like it's becoming increasingly harder to stand out in what is a rapidly growing space. With filmmaking now so accessible (which of course is great!) some of the mid-large festivals are taking in 1000s of submissions, meaning loads of great films are missing out. Leveraging genres can definitely help you reach viewers hungry for stuff to watch, but it feels like we need something more than festivals to showcase work, which is why something like this that runs year-round is so great.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I'm generally rubbish at keeping up with the latest releases so have only just watched Jordan Peele's NOPE which was incredible, great visuals, great performances and great storytelling. Also, thanks to one of the big summer blockbusters we recently revisited Blade which still has a banging opening scene which is up there as one of my favourite movie openings.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?
My Alien Cowboy
Mary-Sue and her alien boyfriend have the most unusual, out of this world meet-cute story.
Written & Directed by Kate Lloyd
A comedy short about Mary-Sue and her alien boyfriend, who have the most unusual, out of this world meet-cute story.
ABOUT THE FILM
MY ALIEN COWBOY screened at our Short Film Open Mic Night earlier this year and we’re exicted to spread this alien invasion to the web with it’s online premiere.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Kate Lloyd is a writer/director born and raised in London, UK. Her short films have screened at numerous film festivals around the world including London Short Film Festival, Lisbon and Hamburg. She previously worked in production/producing for companies including Manchester International Festival and the BBC. Kate has an unhealthy obsession with the weird, so she writes dark comedies inspired by a punk sensibility to disrupt the status quo. She likes to write about good people who do bad things, complicated characters who grab the audience by the heart and genitals.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH KATE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I started off in a fine art background, and studied Video Art at Brighton University, which is sort of like a fine art degree but in film. This provided me with a lot of education around theories, concepts and ideas, much more of an “intellectual” approach to art, which I later rejected in my work.
I am more interested in people - relationships and narrative, so I started making my own short films with more emphasis on these subjects..which was also much more fun than having to win intellectual points!
Tell us about the genesis of My Alien Cowboy. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind the film?
I absolutely love cheesy 70s B Movies, like early John Carpenter and David Cronenberg. So I knew I wanted to play around with this genre and make a film that was really sludgy, gnarly and off-beat film.
I also wanted to see what I could make with a limited budget of 300 pounds. There is a hotel in Brighton that has themed hotel rooms and one of them was an Americana themed room which looked absolutely fantastic, so I purposely wrote something I could set in that hotel.
And I wanted to explore in a comedic way the desperation people could go to in love, even losing your eye for a partner!
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making My Alien Cowboy and how did you overcome them?
Definitely the accent! I’m pretty new to on screen acting and I underestimated what a challenge an accent like that could be.
The shot where the eyeball falls on the floor also took a few practice shots to get right as you have to get the exact part of the eyeball to line up in focus.
Not sure if it’s was an “obstacle” exactly but I know the colour grader Alex Marshall and the DP Andrew Butler worked hard on making the flashback scene look like film, which I think it really does and adds a lot of texture and old school B Movie vibe to the short.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
We’re waiting to hear from a few genre festivals and local festivals in Brighton, due to financial limitations I am being cautious with over submitting and instead putting most of my finances into the budget for my next short.
It was a real pleasure to see it in front of an audience with Kino Short Film Open Mic, and I was super delighted to hear the laughs from the audience, it’s interesting that some parts I didn’t expect to get much laughs were the biggest.
Also excited to be part of Kino’s Short of the Week! Thanks for having us.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
If you can find an interesting location and write your film around that, it will instantly stand out.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Love Lies Bleeding by Rose Glass, I’m obsessed.
Interested in getting your work selected?
Voices
A couple overhears a violent fight next door and must decide whether or not to get involved.
DIRECTED BY Abbie Lucas
Written BY OMAR KHAN | PRODUCED BY Håkan Carlsson
A couple overhears a violent fight next door and must decide whether or not to get involved.
ABOUT THE FILM
Voices is a short film that defies genre. It won Best Drama at the BIFA Qualifying Beeston Film Festival, Best Horror Short at the Atlanta Shortsfest, and Best Suspense at Chicago Reel Shorts. Drama? Horror? Suspense? Whatever the genre is, all we know is that it’s goooooood!
It also won the Audience Award at Tweetfest and the Si Spencer Award & Best Screenplay at Unrestricted View (as well as a Special Mention for Best Director) - both festivals were BIFA qualifiers.
Voices played at over 45 festivals internationally, but highlights include the BAFTA Qualifying Aesthetica, Fastnet, the Oscar qualifying Seattle International, Durban, ScreamFest, Waterford, Milwaukee, Nevermore, and our very own BIFA qualifying Kino London Short Film Festival, where Omar Khan was nominated for Best Performance in a Comedy. The film was also nominated for Best Score.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Omar Khan has written for TV, theatre, short films and radio dramas. His short film The Plunge, premiered at Palm Springs ShortsFest and was long-listed for a BAFTA after being selected for over 60 international film festivals.
In 2021 he was selected for the BBC Children’s Scripted Development mentorship which led to a radio drama for the CBBC show, Malory Towers, and ten TV credits; episodes of the CBBC shows Princess Mirror-Belle, Odd Squad, Little BadMan and The Dumping Ground and the CBeebies show Biff and Chip. He also wrote an episode of the BBC3 show The Break. In 2023, he wrote two episodes of the Channel 4 continuing drama Hollyoaks and became a BAFTA Connect member.
Abbie Lucas is a film director based in London, originally from New Zealand. In 2018, Levile TV listed her as one of the Top 20 Rising Female Filmmakers in the UK. She is a member of Directors UK and BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew 2021. In 2022 she was invited to participate in the Reykjavik International Film Festival Talent Lab.
As a storyteller, she enjoys stories with flawed relationships, female protagonists, vigilantes, crime, and a bit of magical realism but most of all loves work with strong performances and impactful story lines. She is known for exploring dark themes in ways that are humorous and unexpected.
Her recent film credits include the award winning TESTING GRETA, an unusual story about domestic abuse, which took the 'Greeks of the World' Prize at the 40th Drama Film Festival in Greece and was screened at the BAFTA recognised Aesthetica Film Festival in 2018, and another short comedy titled DEAD TIRED which was been nominated for Best Script and Best Comedy at the Beeston Film Festival 2018 and also for Best International Comedy at the Austrian Film Festival 2018. In 2020 she completed two more dark comedies, GOOD VIBRATIONS and THE HANKERBOX, and in 2022 she completed CAPTURE HER and VOICES, all of which are on the festival circuit.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH OMAR & abbie
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your filmmaking background?
OMAR: My name is Omar Khan and I’m a screenwriter and reluctant producer! I’ve written and produced five short films, including The Plunge and Voices, both of which had successful festival journeys. I work mainly as a screenwriter, currently I am part of the team at Hollyoaks and I’ve worked extensively at CBBC.
ABBIE: My name is Abbie Lucas and I'm a Director, Writer and Editor. I studied Directing and Writing back home in Aotearoa, New Zealand and when I moved to the UK, got involved in directing theatre and then moved into web series and short films. I also co-write features with my US based writing partner Kevin Kautzman and have many years experience editing commercials, branded content and short films.
Tell us about the genesis of Voices. What was the inspiration behind the film and how did the project get greenlit?
OMAR: Voices started as an idea, after a news report about Boris Johnson and his partner having an argument at home, which was overheard by the neighbours who then called the police to report possible domestic violence. This turned into a small media frenzy, with some papers arguing that you have no right to call the police on a private, domestic matter and other saying that you have a duty to do so if you suspect someone is being hurt. This inspired the start of the film in which the couple have this very argument when overhearing their neighbours domestic dispute.
ABBIE: I first became involved with Voices when Omar sent me an email introducing himself. He had seen some of my work and was interested in potentially collaborating, so we met up for a coffee, got along well and he sent me a couple of shorts he's written. Voices was the one I connected with because I like stories that are told in an unusual way, it was almost like a modern myth or fairy tale about a very adult situation.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Voices and how did you overcome them?
OMAR: I had saved up funds of about £6k and had decided that I would make the film myself without any other funders. I didn’t want to be a the mercy of gatekeepers and had the utmost belief if the story I was telling. Though it did mean we didn’t go on any holidays for a while!
The main obstacles were around the limited funds and ensuring we could make the money within that and ensure everyone was paid. The last day became a bit of a mad rush and we only just got the last shot while the sun was about to go up. Also, I had a wonderful producer in Hakan Carlsson, who got a great acting job the week we were supposed to film. So he had to produce the film remotely from Sweden, while I took over some producing responsibilities on set. We made it work!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
OMAR: We started submitting to festivals in early 2022 via Film Freeway. We had a slow start. At first we were reluctant to submit to genre festivals. We had made a sort of horror/thriller but I was concerned the film wasn’t horror enough for the horror specific festivals. Once I embraced the horror festivals though, the festival submissions snowballed. This included selection to the renowned horror festival in LA, Screamfest. Other highlights include, Bafta qualifying Aesthetica, Oscar qualifying Seattle International and Durban. We were also grateful from the support of some UK festivals that had also liked my previous film The Plunge and were really supporting me as a filmmaker such as Tweetfest, Kino and Beeston.
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face in the early stages of their career when trying to break into the industry?
OMAR: The biggest hurdles is raising the money and convincing people to make the film for lower than their usual rate. I am lucky that I have a day job as an optometrist and am reasonably well paid and so I was able to save up and raise the funds myself. This made it slightly easier as I wasn’t at the mercy of gatekeepers and funding bodies and could make the film I wanted. Low funds create other problems, such as reduced crews and less shoot days, which create a real pressure.
ABBIE: The biggest challenge I think filmmakers face early on in their career is finding a way to jump from shorts to features or TV. The technological advances have made it so much easier to get a short off the ground but it remains difficult to go professional as the industry is risk averse, expensive, cliquey and doesn't afford a great deal of opportunities to people that don't have private access to funds. I wish I had the kind of radical ideas that could provide a solution to this.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
OMAR: The biggest hack is to have a script that can be made easily. Voices was a ten page script with two characters and one location. All of this lowered the cost and made the film possible. It also helped that people really liked the script and were willing to shoot the film for lower than their usual day rate. Always take the time to get the script right.
ABBIE: The advice I have to give is kind of cliched, but that's because there is truth to it - tell a story that you love because trying to predict what festivals will want to see is a losing battle. Figure out what interesting things (locations, cast etc) you have access to and tell a story based around that, it will help you keep a budget in control.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
OMAR: Film recommendations: I have to say I very rarely watch films these days as I have a three year old daughter and she controls what I watch, which is basically Disney princess films. We did enjoy Wish. But for a real recommendation, we just finished watching the TV show Succession, which was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
ABBIE: The best film I've seen recently is Zone of Interest (in terms of filmmaking, it's the opposite of feel good!) a movie I like to recommend in general is Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. a documentary by Errol Morris. I saw it at film school and it's a masterful character study and disturbing as it unfolds. Actually, both of those films have some crossover themes!
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?
Everybody Dies… Sometimes
Mara grapples with the belief that she has killed everybody she's gotten close to.
Written & directed by Charlotte Hamblin
Produced by Leonora Darby, Charlotte Hamblin, James Harris, & Mark Lane
A dark comedy about death anxiety that follows Mara as she grapples with the belief that she has killed everybody she's gotten close to.
ABOUT THE FILM
Everybody Dies… Sometimes swept our Kino London Short Film Festival 2023 awards taking home four awards including our Grand Prize Short Film Fund for writer/director Charlotte Hamblin’s next project, Best First Time Filmmaker, Best Performance in a Comedy for Tanya Reynolds, and our Audience Award. Additionally it was nominated for Best Original Score and Best Editing.
The film then went onto it’s International Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival and to win Best Director – Silver Prize at the Young Director Awards for CANNES LIONS 2023.
But… before all that Everybody Dies… Sometimes had it’s World Premiere at the Raindance Film Festival 2022 where it was Nominated for Best UK Short. It also won Best UK Short and Best Editing at the British Short Films Awards 2022, where it was also nominated for Best Director, Best Actress (Tanya Reynolds), and Best Supporting Actor (Mathew Horne).
Additional awards include the JURY PRIZE and Best Actress at Filmoramax 2023 and Best British Comedy at the Discover Film Awards 2023.
Festival highlights include the Academy Award qualifying HollyShorts, the BAFTA qualifying Norwich International Film Festival, Women X Festival, and the BIFA qualifying Bolton International Film Festival.
Everybody Dies Sometimes has been selected to screen on all Virgin Atlantic Flights.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Charlotte is a queer director, writer and actor. She is currently writer/director for her TV series THE COMMANDMENTS a comedy/drama starring and produced by Olivia Colman and her company South of the River Pictures. Charlotte is also co-creating a series with Keeley Hawes for her production company Buddy Club. Amongst other projects she’s adapting the best selling novel THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell Paramount Plus, due to shoot in 2024. Her next second short film as a director is NOT A MOURNING PERSON, written by Toto Bruin produced by Izzy Meikle-Small has just started its festival journey and has screened at Women X Festival.
Charlotte has two feature films in development with Federation Stories and BAFTA Award winning producer Christine Langan. Charlotte has also written episodes of Amazon Series HANNA She has taken part in writers roomS for Sky, Working Title, NBC Universal, Paramount Plus UK, and South of the River Pictures to name a few. Charlotte currently has TV shows in development with Pure Fiction, Mark Gordon Pictures, Route24 and Federation US Charlotte took part in the Zurich Film Festival Film Lab 2023 as a director.
Charlotte has recently finished shadow directing Dearbhla Walsh on Bad Sisters Series 2. Charlotte was also on the Jury for RAINDANCE Film Festival 2023.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CHARLOTTE
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your filmmaking background?
Thank you for having me! As you know I’m a massive fan of Kino. You guys have been so endlessly supportive so I’m chuffed to be featured! So, with filmmaking… I had none before Everybody Dies! Well that’s not strictly true, I did make what I called a ‘filming camera’ out of a ReadyBreck box and a toilet roll in my kitchen when I was six.
I’ve always been in this industry, I started as an actor and then went a bit mad because I had no say on how my life was going to go and so I started writing. So I was working as a full time screenwriter which is utterly dreamy, until I was encouraged to direct. And I wrote Everybody Dies… Sometimes and here we are! I’m so glad I just did it. I’ve honestly learnt so much and had the time of my life. Still a lot to learn I hasten to add!
Tell us about the genesis of Everybody Dies Sometimes. What was the inspiration behind the film and how did the project get greenlit?
So I was working on a feature film with Tea Shop Productions and producer Leonora Darby said that I should direct it. I thought she was a bit mental, but then the more she encouraged me I thought, yeah maybe I could do that. So I started with a short film. But it had to be story I wanted to tell, that only I could tell. I’m very open about this film being semi- autobiographical. I suffered really badly from death anxiety as a kid, because a lot of people in my life kicked the bucket. Anyway, I was sent to a therapist to deal with it and would you believe it, he died. Six sessions in. Couldn’t write it hey? But I did. I was telling someone that story in lockdown and they were saying how mad and really funny it is. So I put pen to paper and wrote the film in one sitting.
Very luckily Leo and Tea Shop backed me and put half the finance in, wanting to support me as a director. That was very cool and I couldn’t have done it without them. I put the other half in. It’s the best investment I’ve ever made, but I’m aware I was in a really lucky position to be able to do that. So that’s how it came to life!
Tell us about the casting process and getting Tanya Reynolds attached to the project.
I met Tanya when the casting director Claudia Blunt took me to see her in a play at the Royal Court and obviously I thought she was amazing. So we stayed in contact and then when Covid hit and I wrote this, I only had her in mind to play Mara. So I sent it to her and I can’t believe she said yes. She’s won awards on the festival journey and I’m not surprised. I think her performance is a master class for comedy/tragedy acting. The film wouldn’t be half as magic without her. Or any of the cast for that matter. Utter gems all of them.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Everybody Dies Sometimes and how did you overcome them?
Probably me having no idea what I was doing! But I was guided by a lot of experienced, generous people. The main one was we lost our grip the day before shooting. Turns out Peaky Blinders stole every grip in the country. So I had no set ending. I knew what I wanted in my head, but I didn’t have the vocabulary to verbalise it. I kept saying ‘I’ll fix it in edit’. I didn’t… the genius editor Caitlin Spiller did.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights.
Well, I knew very little about the festival circuit. I’d written a short a few years before that went to Aesthetica. But I didn’t really get how big of deal it all was. We submitted to a few initially, and then out of nowhere got Raindance and Nominated for Best UK Short. I don’t think at the time I realised how good that was, specifically as a debut. They amazingly, asked me to be on the jury the year later and it was only then was I like. Holy shit. That was big deal. I think the naivety played quite well into my hands as I had zero strategy and a lot of blind faith. James Newman who I met when I acted in his Kino orginal was such a lot of help and took me under his wing a lot which how/what to apply. I really would have been stuck without him. When we got Tribeca I was like holy fuck. I knew what that was! And honestly, I had the time of my life. I mean now I can say Ben Stiller and Martin Scorsese have seen my first short. I can die happy. Winning 4 Kino awards wasn’t bad either… that felt pretty wild too!
congrats on getting distribution on Virgin Atlantic! How did that come about?
Our film was selected to screen on all Virgin Atlantic Flights because we won Best Comedy at the Discover Film Awards. All the winners were offered to Virgin and luckily ours was selected!
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face in the early stages of their career when trying to break into the industry?
Money. Money is always going to be the thing. Even if you make your film paying people a packet of crisps and a curly whirly, festival submissions are SO expensive. I dread to think what I spent on submissions. It’s quite grim, but I don’t know a way around it. Also, who you know… who you know helps so much. I always knew someone who knew someone. Mainly from being in the industry for so long. Coming to directing a bit later than my peers was weirdly good as my mates had been doing it a while and were so damn kind helping me out. Freddie Hall who I rang asking if he knew a newbie who wanted to first. He said he ‘d do it. And he was my guardian angel!
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
Ok. Keep your short under 10 minutes, if you have to 12. I think part of the reason Everybody Dies did well was because it was 8 minutes. As soon as people see it’s longer, your film has to work that much harder to get them on side. We live in a TikTok world now and peoples attention spans aren’t what they were.
If you’re starting out, go to a short film festival. I did that and must have watched nearly 100 in weekend. It kind of goes into your DNA what works, what doesn’t. I also think it super obvious if a short is a proof of concept. Now proof of concept shorts are great, we need them. BUT, your short has to stand alone as well. Short film is an art form in and of itself. I’m a bit traditional… I love a beginning middle and end. And a lot of shorts I’ve seen over the last eighteen months have a cracking beginning, middle and they end weirdly. Ending a short is way harder than ending a feature or a pilot. It’s hell. So give the script to three different people who have no idea what you’ve written about and ask them, doesn’t this make sense. What do you think you’re meant to be left feeling? Then you’ll work your way to a stronger ending.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Oh well, Zone of Interest was unlike any other cinematic experience I’ve ever had. My favourite films of all time are Almodovar’s Bad Education and the 1994 version of Little Women. It’s perfect. Don’t come for me.
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?
Dead Whistle Stop
Daniel’s not going to the office today. A dying man asked him to deliver a letter. Though he’s not sure who the dying man was or where the person he’s delivering it to is. Or what, if anything, it has to do with his new neighbours, The Illuminated Brotherhood of the All Seeing Eye.
Written & directed by Sean Mckenna
PRODUCED by Jamie Macdonald
Daniel’s not going to the office today. A dying man asked him to deliver a letter. Though he’s not sure who the dying man was or where the person he’s delivering it to is. Or what, if anything, it has to do with his new neighbours, The Illuminated Brotherhood of the All Seeing Eye.
ABOUT THE FILM
Dead Whistle Stop was commissioned by BFI NETWORK and Film Hub North. Produced by Paisley Films and narrated by Kate Dickie (The Witch, Game of Thrones), the short film won the RTS NE Award for Best Short Form and has screened in competition at the BAFTA Qualifying festivals Aesthetica, POFF, Bolton and LA Shorts. We saw the film while attending the BIFA Qualifying Sunderland Shorts, a fellow member of AIFF.
ABOUT THE FILMmaker
Sean Mckenna makes funny, dark and often surreal films. Prior to Dead Whistle Stop he completed the short Future Perfect which was commissioned by Channel 4’s Random Acts and narrated byJulian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh, Flowers). It premiered in competition at Encounters Film Festival and was selected as Short of the Week following its festival run which included screenings at British Shorts Berlin, Aesthetica Short Film Festival and Reykjavik Film Festival, where it won best experimental short. He was also one third of Hot Gulp writing, directing and performing short form comedy for TV and online including writing a TV pilot for Bonefide Films and Channel 4 titled Storydweller starring Steve Oram (End of the F***ing World) which went on to win best sitcom pitch at LOCO.
Previously he’s also taken part in a comedy feature development programme with Screen Yorkshire and in funded development with Northern Film & Media on comedy sitcom Sea Bastards. In 2020 he was commissioned to direct a short comedy for Channel 4 online (1.7m views). Most recently he was selected for the Screen Yorkshire Talent Lab: Flex where he’s part of a newly formed team developing a mystery/drama TV series -All Souls. In 2023 he was selected for BAFTA’s Connect Programme. When not making his own work he works as a freelance filmmaker supporting young people and communities to develop their filmmaking skills. He works with a variety of organisations including New Writing North and Beacon Films.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH Sean
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your filmmaking background?
In my youth I used to work as a floor layer but after pulling up one too many stinking night club carpets I decided I didn’t enjoy that job so, as I’d always been the one in the group who liked weird (ie not mainstream) films, I decided to study film-making. I quickly discovered that most of the people teaching that in the college I went to didn’t seem to be enjoying their jobs either but I concentrated on using the gear and with friends to start making my own work. I’ve been making films since. And teaching film-making which I, fortunately, do also happen to enjoy.
For a number of years I was in a comedy group, Hot Gulp, with a couple of other of friends. We produced a lot of videos, writing, directing and appearing them – really as a collective but when we stopped doing that I returned to focusing on writing and directing my own films again. I was generally the one who’d be pulling for us to be a bit stranger and so now I’m back to doing my own thing that’s where I tend to gravitate. I still kind of think most of what I’ve done recently is funny. But it may just be a few people who are getting the joke now.
Tell us about the genesis of Dead Whistle Stop. This was produced with BFI Network, yes? What was that experience like?
I actually wrote the film several years before making it, before my previous short Future Perfect. When coming up with a follow up to that I was toying with an idea that I realised was like something I’d written before, so I dug it out and to my surprise I still liked it. BFI Network funded it and were great. I redrafted it myself, but really had very little requests for alterations from them and was left to my own devices, perhaps cause it’s so odd. Why take one odd bit out and not another?
Where the initial inspiration came from is hard to say but there are a lot of my own preoccupations in there. I would say broadly that we get fixated on some things in life, we want answers to mysteries and searching for the answers. Answers which mostly aren’t there. And all this distracts us from other, maybe more important things.
But then if you ask me this tomorrow I might say something else.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Dead Whistle Stop and how did you overcome them?
I think generally I was very lucky with Dead Whistle Stop. I had a group of people working with me who, despite wondering themselves what the fuck was going on a lot of the time, threw themselves into it and the shoot was a great experience. Having a team doing that in sync is a wonderful thing and all credit to producer Jamie Macdonald and AD Hal Branson for facilitating that. This was also the first time I’d worked with a casting team, Olly Gilbert and Katy Covell, and without them I wouldn’t have found Taurean or got to Kate Dickie for the narration.
I suppose figuring out how to travel round Europe without leaving the general Newcastle area was tricky. Finding places that could stand in for the other countries and arranging unit moves but overall that was quite good fun and finding the places got me out of the house during the fag end of the lockdown times.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences. How have you found the online release of your film compared to its festival run?
The festival process is a long one but I’m very pleased to have got into where we got to. One word of advice for other film-makers, if you get the opportunity to go to festivals, go to them. I attended a few but wish I’d gone to more. Having the film released through Omeleto has also been great. It’s really helped get it out to a broader audience than it otherwise would have. I’m not the greatest at online self promotion. I may in fact be the worst. So having that platform has been invaluable. Having people see it online is different to a festival. With the latter you get people who love film, want to be supportive and, if you’re there, will say nice things to you. Online, when people comment, they have no association with you or your film so are free to mouth off and pull it apart if they don’t like it. There’s value in both.
What do you think is the biggest challenge short filmmakers face in the early stages of their career when trying to break into the industry?
If we’re talking about Directors, Writers and Producers, the biggest challenge is you don’t get money from it. You may even end up out of pocket. As a result it’s hard to sustain, to make more, mess up and get better.
Having said that, access to cameras to shoot, software to edit, even software to create incredible FX has never been easier to come by. A lot of great stuff is on your phone, but even stepping beyond that is easier than it was in the past. As a result there’s a flood of stuff and getting yourself noticed is a skill in itself.
Ultimately though, I think another big hurdle is how much people get in the way of themselves. Often people are too self critical and scared of failing, so they don’t just get out and do it. On the other side some people are too convinced of their own brilliance and won’t take advice from anyone and feel like they're being treated unfairly cause they don't get their hands in the small pot that's out there..
You’ve got to find a sweet spot – being confident without being an arrogant arsehole and having some humility without being paralysed with doubt. If you figure out how to do that let me know.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
If you don’t feel confident – fake it. Everyone is faking it.
Get good actors and make sure it’s in focus.
Related note – if you’ve not already done it, do some acting. What actors do is a total mystery until you do it yourself.
Get a good sound recordist.
Watch more films and read more books. The greats all steal. You’ve got to know where the jewellery box is if you want to stuff it under your coat.
Download DaVinci Resolve and Unreal Engine. It absolutely blows my mind that they’re free.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
I’m more inclined to say what not to watch, like Marvel films and the other big franchise behemoths that suck up all the air these days. If we don’t keep watching independent and leftfield stuff it will stop being made and we’ll miss it when it’s gone. One thing I’ll add is if you like someone don’t just watch what they’ve done, watch who they stole from.