BLOCK 1 - SHORT NARRATIVE FILMS

Pool with Two Figures

Directed by Patrick Cressler

Strung

Directed by Sam Estall

I'd always wanted to write a musical drama in the vein of Crazy Heart, Begin Again or Inside Llewyn Davis - a character study where music is core to the character. I'd had a rough year at university after a doctor told me that my liver wasn't functioning properly and it could fail at any point. Regardless of the fact that three years down the line the problem hasn't cropped up once, I really wanted to put that fear into words. Onto film.

'Strung' follows Piper, a musician cursed with the knowledge that she could drop dead at any moment, adamant that she'll play one last gig before she's too weak to manage. I wrote it as a more melancholy story in comparison to my first, 'Catching Clouds', and wanted that sense of creative desperation to shine through.

What we shot back in 2017 is nothing short of what I'd imagined when putting pen to paper - a flash of hope amongst desperation, exactly how I'd felt on that strange day at university.

'Strung' has been my baby for the best part of three years now and I'm immensely proud of what we've created. I hope you enjoy it.

Metanoia

Directed by Ashley De Grandy

Table 12

Directed by Jacob De Gaetano

L'Oro di Famiglia

Directed by EMANUELE PISANO

A young petty thief and a male robbery. Among the stolen goods, an object captures his

The idea for The family Gold came about from a need: to describe the internal bond that connects man to his origins and his past. Life inevitably changes, people grow, places crumble, but the feeling of nostalgia for who we were and for our families never leaves us. It’s a curse that all of us must accept. The main character lives a personal turmoil: he’s floating in the hope that a memory which has faded over time can vividly come back to life merely because of some photos. Yet the world of photography has radically changed in the last fifty years. Digital photos have ousted the analogue ones with the force of a tsunami. In the world 2.5 trillion photos are taken every year: millions and millions of shots, that in most cases remain confined to digital media and which are, for the most part, viewed on electronic devices. Only a tiny percentage of these images are printed and preserved in the same way as analogue photos were kept. I love calling printed photographs ‘Tangible Memories’, because a photograph has to be touched and listened to: it has to be lived.

The main character needs to relive a moment that is connected to his past. It’s an impulse that ends up making him change the course of his actions in order to set right the most precious thing a family possesses: its memories. Those same memories that cannot be stolen.

The directing style arises from the desire to enter the story as much as possible. The camera, therefore, becomes another actor, who crosses over the places trod on by the protagonist. However, the vision is deliberately imprecise. Indeed, I have tried to concentrate on the unpredictability of the choices made each time by the character. This is why the camera is a spy, yet it never anticipates the actions of the main character: it merely waits for his decisions.

Candy Canes: A Short Holiday Film

Directed by Chris Ballinger

The Cancer Monster

A girl in a cancer ward is forced to confront her deepest fears - real or imaginary. At stake is life itself.

Taboo

Directed by Jato Smith

What excited me so much about TABOO was the opportunity to examine traditional African-American male perspectives and expectations for friendship, love, and acceptance not just through edgy humor, but also through earnest heartache - certainly, two of my favorite experiences to indulge through filmmaking.

While on its surface, Adrian's story affords us plenty of laughs, it also pushes us deeper, past our flawed, armored, superficial views to find our compassionate, vulnerable, more human selves. And ultimately, it invites us to choose who we will be going forward. I was both humbled and uplifted by this story and honored to be involved in helping to tell it.

Over the Line

Directed by  Tashay Livingston

An average weekend turns into a Saturday morning slugfest as two neighbors battle over the property line.

Il nostro concerto / Our concert

Directed  by Francesco Piras