SCREEN DRAMA

BORDERLAND

Borderland is a short film drama about Jenny, a young journalist interviewing Arianna, an asylum seeker in Britain, now detained in an immigration removal centre known as The Citadel after escaping a violent past in her homeland.

Switching between their conversations and brief glimpses of Jenny’s thoughts and dreams, we see Jenny beginning to understand the removal centre as a place of control through the use of fear. This is not just a story of oppression, however, but of empowerment: about Jenny being inspired as both a journalist and friend by Arianna’s fortitude.

This film was initially inspired by the documentary photography exhibition ‘Border Country’ by Melanie Friend, and is a polemic on the British immigration system as an institution. The precise, still and controlled nature of the film’s cinematic style contrasts this institution with the warmth and perspective gained between the two women, in an aesthetic inspired by the dystopian works of filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and Fritz Lang.

Writer & Director: Will Steer [mrwillsteer@gmail.com, 07835851979]
Producer & Sound Designer: Sophie Spital [sophiespital@hotmail.co.uk, 07528755954]
Cinematographer & Colourist: Matt Pellant [MattPellant@hotmail.com, 07702462879]
Editor & Sound Recordist: Charlotte Romer [angel_charlotte28@hotmail.com, 07871655314]

SNOW DAY

Snow Day is fictional drama short, written and directed by Will Whiteman, that depicts the final day of Jimmy Compson’s life. Constructed as a stream of consciousness, the film’s non-linear narrative takes us through Jimmy’s last perceptions of the world, along with the painful and happy memories that play on his mind: the pretty waitress in a local café; the troubled relationship with his older brother; a childhood now past; and all of it framed by Brighton in a melancholy snow fall. Inspired by the writings of William Faulkner, Snow Day is a story told in a way that is reminiscent of the Italian Neorealists and the Dogma 95 movement. Its playfulness and moments beauty serve as a counterweight to the sombreness and brutality of its subject matter. Up-and-coming musician W. J. White gives a stellar performance as the film’s doomed protagonist.

Writer, Director, Cinematographer & Producer: Will Whiteman [willmwhiteman@gmail.com, 07846376019]

STRANGER

Stranger is a short film, which attempts to follow the daily lives of two people as they are confronted with issues surrounding loss and longing for the past. Joe, an elderly man who suffers from Alzheimer’s, lives a closed and lonely existence, shut off from the outside world. The only company he receives is from a woman in her mid-thirties, Sarah - who Joe believes to be a cleaner. Joe’s only consistent thought is the idea that at some point his family are going to arrive to pick him up and take him back to the life he once led, but unbeknownst to him, how damaging that thought is for those left to care for him. The overall pace and style of the film was a crucial factor throughout production, which highlights the influence of the ‘contemplative’ style of cinema, as well as the films of Ingmar Bergman and Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Writer & Producer: Daniel Harding [danharding1@live.com, 07833470910]
Cinematography: Matt Pellant [MattPellant@hotmail.com]

THE DOOR

During the creation of this project we were inspired by the everchanging concept of the Horror film, how post-modern horror has come so far afield from the classical horror films pre-1960s. The Door is a return to the more classic forms of horror, replacing the modern ‘shock and gore’ approach to the genre with more classic undertones of suspense and mystery.

The story is set in an ordinary seeming cottage where an old man lives alone, going about his days as he would go about the rest of his fleeting years until he discovers something ominous within his house that seemingly was not there before. As his fears battle with his curiosity, he becomes tormented by unseen forces that wait for him in the shadows, building tension through the noises of his house.

Director: George Baker [gab28@sussex.ac.uk]
Producer: Rosemary Pooley [rpooley@live.co.uk]
Editor: Dandan Sun [ds236@sussex.ac.uk]
Cinematography: Matt Pellant [MattPellant@hotmail.com]