Splendid
SHORT FILMS
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Jamie Sage Cotton
In seeking to ensure a safe, secure and sustainable future for us all, we must create a foundation of diversity, inclusion and acceptance. By looking at our differences through the eyes of curiosity and wonder rather than fear and derision, we can begin to build this foundation. If we are to move gracefully into a sustainable future we must give up the ideas of us vs them, protagonist and antagonist, heroes and villains and embrace true diversity. In creating Black Sheep, I sought to tell a sweet simple coming of age story that would demonstrate how caring, curiosity and creativity could start to build a community of inclusiveness and allow an outsider to feel a sense of confidence in themselves. We are all unique, different and a bit weird in our own way. Only through embracing, accepting and even celebrating our differences can we begin to find a common ground upon which to build a better future for everyone.
Jo Southwell
Echo explores mental health trauma following child loss, grief and | or miscarriage. During the making of this film, we were approached by women and men who strongly believed that this story needs to be seen by audiences worldwide. Echo can help:
To break the Silence: Miscarriage is a topic that is not openly discussed. We can encourage people to talk about their experiences and emotions, in a safe and secure forum. This openness can provide comfort to those who have gone through similar situations, letting them know they are not alone.
We can raise Awareness: By shedding light on the challenges faced by those who experience loss, we can foster empathy and understanding.
Stories of loss and grief can involve personal transformation and resilience. Such narratives can inspire individuals to face challenges with courage, leading to growth and a more resilient society.
Films spark conversation and we believe Echo is the perfect film to do this. The journey of Alice is shown through an imagined memory and ensures the journey is relatable but also shown in a fantasy world in the sea – which is not only beautiful but also tangible.
Echo is relevant to a wide audience because it addresses a universal human experience, promotes understanding and empathy, encourages important conversations, and provides a platform for healing and acceptance. By encouraging empathy, open conversations, social support, policy changes, personal growth, and global solidarity, Echo can contribute significantly to building a safe, secure, and sustainable future for all.
Katharina Mumper
“Happy ever after” picks up where Disney’s Cindadrella leaves off: the ball is over, the wedding is over, no more butterflies in the stomach. ‘Cindy’ and her prince are now at the point in the narrative where things get serious: Life decisions are coming up, a house purchase is within reach, and even though everything seems to be going perfectly at first glance, something seems to be missing. By chance, Cindy meets three non-binary fairies who help her discover a space for queer utopias, polyamorous desire and alternative lifestyles. “Happy Ever After” explores and seeks out new “happily ever afters” that add diverse narratives to previous tales of love, fairy tales, and romance. After all, people who do not conform to the white heterosexual norm also deserve fairy tale stories that give hope. Because queer people have always been there, they are just made invisible or portrayed as villains in most traditional stories. “Happy Ever After” aims to break with this tradition and offer identification to people who have been left out of previous narratives of romance and especially fairy tales.
Karen Bryson
What captivated me to write ‘Monochromatic’ was primarily to do with my reaction to the death of George Floyd. It saw a global
acknowledgement regarding racism and racial inequality. It unearthed years of racism I had personally suffered andhad learnt to swallow.
We follow Grace’s journey as she navigates and processes the fact that people aren’t different hues of one colour. She’s works out that she’s black and for her, blackness is coupled with hate. A naïveté to her thoughts are reflected in the tone of the piece. The surreal dreamlike quality gives a feeling of an older omnipresent Grace reflecting back at her childhood.
My aim is for ‘Monochromatic’ to hold a mirror up, inviting an audience to ask questions of themselves. It touches on the concept of
nurture, what we see and hear, consciously or unconsciously shape who we are, how we view the world and subsequently our own
biases.
We used real found footage which appears in the film of the penultimate National Front March which took place on St Georges Day
in Wood Green 1977. There were a thousand strong opposers that day led by the then councillor of Haringey Jeremy Corbyn. They
successfully disrupted the march which is now known as The Battle of Wood Green.
Is this a mirror image of past events? We know what this moment means for Grace and her future… We’re still living it.
Archana Deshmukh
Aarav is an apple of everyone’s eye. Being a cross dresser, has been fighting his desires all alone to keep his identity secret. But Sister’s beautiful bridal dress, overpowers his efforts of restrain. Suddenly his mother Rekha arrives and gets the shock of her life on seeing Aarav dressed up as a bride. 7yrs old Simmi comes at their doorstep, calling Aarav to save her mother from her abusive father. Aarav jumps into action after enlightening Rekha about the difference between trying to be nosy and taking stand for protecting a vulnerable person. And insists that it is every individual’s duty to protect vulnerable if one expects to live in happy and peaceful society. Successfully convinces Rekha that it is not just to force someone to follow certain norms for the sake of the precedents set by our society as “To be Happy is every individual’s birth right”.
Kathryn Carmichael
The COP26 summit and commissioning bodies in the entertainment industry have been calling for more dialogue, and awareness of climate change. As a writer/filmmaker, it is something I am passionate about, and feel I have a responsibility to voice and utilise this space to bring about awareness.
THE ORCHARD is a Social/Thriller that addresses the global story of Climate change and GMOs through a narrative story. The idea came to me after reading an article in New Scientist Magazine “Zombie flies” where spores controlled the population level of insects. Sir David Attenborough voiced his fears over our overpopulation and how humanity is depleting the Earth’s resources. It wasn’t such a stretch to imagine a perfect storm of GM food crop consumption and a cross-species infection by something like this zombie fly spore. We are witnessing this cross-species jump more often. The Orchard was written before the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2018, which sadly confirms that global events like this are entirely plausible. Our story is frighteningly close to the world we live in now, a reality that we as a global community can intimately and empathically understand. We all have a part to play together as we address our consumption and how we provide for humanity in a more sustainable way without destroying humanity and the planet.
Phil Dunn
Our film THE STUPID BOY, is about the simple power of love and kindness even when faced with racism, bullying, religious nationalism and terrorism. It draws on theories of pro-active non-violence and dares to imagine what that could look like in an extreme situation. It is a film that appeals to the audience’s humanity and their capacity to love, which is a power that is available to us all and one that we could all use more often and more creatively as we encounter brokenness in the world, to make it a safer and more nurturing place.
Adrian Ramirez Leon
It’s Marvin’s first day at a support group for vampires where they discuss personal problems as well as bigger ones – such as the climate crisis.
Gayatri vijay Saindane
The story of the person who leaving his happy lifestyle and striving to save an environment. Enjin was an engineer in P.W.D. But he resigned within six months. The Mumbai-Agra highway was being constructed. There were many old trees along the road and by his signature, all those sixty-seventy year old Banyan trees were going to be cut down. So he resigned and sat at home. The time of starvation started. His wife left away with the child as he became jobless.
Robbie Robertson
Common As Red Hair highlights a little known human rights abuse impacting Intersex persons (born with one or more physical sex characteristics that don’t align with typical male or female bodies.) Nearly 2% of the population is born intersex, as common as red hair or green eyes, and more common than identical twins. While not that rare, Intersex people have been widely invisible due to the stigma and shame put on both them and their families by society and especially, medicine. Across the world, many intersex infants and children are subjected to medically unnecessary cosmetic surgeries aimed at “fixing” their healthy non-binary bodies to fit into either a male or female box. These nonconsensual interventions have life-long physical and emotional consequences, and have been deemed a form a torture by the UN and condemned by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Physicians for Human Rights. To date, about ten diverse countries across the globe have restricted or banned these violent medical practices on minors as increasingly more intersex people and their parents are speaking out. It is an issue that truly sits at the intersections of children’s rights, reproductive rights, disability rights and LGBTQ+ rights. It is imperative these harmful practices end to provide intersex persons with their human rights to bodily integrity and well-being. Raising awareness through story telling is an important tool in changing hearts and minds and ultimately protecting intersex persons from violence and discrimination.
Carlos Puig
This project is not just a short film, it is not part of a solitary piece. One more day is the second work in a series of projects that we hope will see the light of day, and whose objective is to publicize the day-to-day life of people with disabilities. Without going into the current vision that society has of our group, but with a more realistic and daily perspective. Our purpose is to reflect the perspective of a group that hardly has access to show their reality, cinema does not provide opportunities to excluded sectors of society, and if it does, it is not usually through its protagonists. Our director was born with a visual disability, and in the projects that we will carry out with this or another theme they will be interpreted by people with disabilities. We hope that this is the beginning of a great initiative and to establish some foundations so that new generations enjoy better access to show their vision in the cinema.
Lorna Nickson Brown
In Dog Run, a silent man, Jan, is lifted out of a life of exploitation through an unexpected bond with guard dog, Sabre, and the healing power of nature. Our film highlights the symbiosis between humankind, animal species, and the shared natural environment. Dog Run has equality at its heart, a value which I and my team have worked hard to instil in our film and in its process of creation. In an increasingly unequal, unjust and fragmented world, the film speaks of values so often overlooked – kindness and equality between all things.
Lee Morgan
Based on a true story – A rooftop party for two, a brother & sister celebrate their love. She has escaped from a violent husband but her scars run deep. She makes the ultimate choice.
Lewis Brownlie
In this film, I consider the difference between our sense of self and how we present ourselves to the outside world. The video is divided into four narratives that address some of the issues facing young people today. In particular, the lives of young men are considered and how their outward expression of self might conflict with private anxieties over a sense of self-worth, gender identity and what kind of future might be possible in the present economic climate. This film is relevant to anyone, anywhere as it creates a conversation on the issues young people are facing in the present. Issues such as gender identity and sexuality are as present as ever and are very important. The film also explores relationship, speech impediment issues and racial/migration issues and mental health.
Abbas Mohammad Ayyoubi
As Parvana pursues her dreams, she faces opposition on all sides. In Afghanistan, as Parvana poses in disguise as a boy, she risks her life to escape the Taliban. When she makes it to Berlin, she again finds men and judgment blocking her way. Beyond physical security, Parvana realizes she has to find freedoms. The narrative conveys the challenges and obstacles that Parvana must overcome to achieve her goals
Meitar Paz
“Some folks whispered, and some folks talked,
But everybody looked the other way…” / G. Peters
Domestic violence is often ignored as it usually happens behind closed doors, and it can seem easier to not get involved.
During the pandemic, cases of domestic violence against women have severely increased and escalated. It is vital that we do something now to protect those directly affected by abuse in their homes.
‘Invisible Flags’ film transcends geographical boundaries, as domestic violence knows no borders, affecting 1 in 4 women during their lifetime, regardless of their background.
Addressing the issues raised in “Invisible Flags” is a shared responsibility for all global citizens. Domestic violence thrives in silence, making it a threat to our collective safety, security, and sustainability.
As the creator, director and actress behind ’Invisible flags’, I believe that filmmakers are storytellers, ambassadors who need to use their voices to create a positive impact, raise awareness to important, relevant subjects, and inspire people to fight for a safer, brighter future.
“Invisible Flags“ was inspired by a wide range of alarming, heartbreaking stories and current events. The film deals with the subject of domestic violence from a very unique angle and hopes to shake, influence, and raise the viewers awareness to the invisible “red flags” that we sometimes choose not to see.
Most of our wonderful, diverse cast and crew members have experienced domestic violence at some point in their lives, and courageously decided to face their past traumas in order to support the film’s meaningful message.
By using arts, we seek to defeat domestic violence terror, and to restore vitality and hope in our society.