CANNES SHORT FILM CORNER - Aberration
Logline: A young couple fall in love from different religious backgrounds, but have issues introducing each other to their disapproving parents.
Length: 6.00 minutes
Director: Kate Rees Davies
Producer: Jessica Dowdeswell & Kate Rees Davies
About the director and producer:
Director: Kate is an award winning director who has had five short films in succession at Cannes. She is currently developing a rock and roll documentary in LA.
Producer: Jessica is an upcoming Australian actress and producer. She has lived in LA for 7 years - this is her first film at Cannes.
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
All of the above
Funders: Private Equity
Made in association with: Audacious Entertainment
Release date: May 2016.
Congratulations! Why did you make a film called Aberration?
Jessica wanted to create a showreel piece and so I suggested a short film to give her enough coverage with close ups and range of emotions. When I asked my writer friend Raymond Kym Suttle if he had a script, he fine tuned this short and we called it Aberration.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
It is a short slice of life, an afternoon in the lives of 3 people and how it can go horribly wrong when you have overbearing, controlling parents. It is very entertaining and certainly leaves the audience wanting more.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I always try and include high emotions and day to day life problems that anyone can identify with. Aberration is about a young girl who has fallen in love with someone her father doesn't approve of. I think this has happened to most people and certainly an issue most parents and twenty somethings can relate to.
How has the script and film evolved over the course of its development and production?
Raymond had written a pretty tight first draft. I made a few minor tweaks and removed some of the exposition, but all in all the story didn't need much development. It is a tight 3 character story.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
Most people who have seen it have said they enjoyed it. It seems to be an easy watch and quite entertaining. We are hoping to get a lot of good feedback once we get it to a wider audience.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Not really, the film is about religious conflict in a relationship between two adults from very different religious backgrounds. One is from the Muslim faith, the other a devout Christian. It is unbiased but you can feel the issue the young couple have, in breaking the news of their engagement to parents who have strong religious values and feel their children should be dating partners from the same strong religious background.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
More exposure for the actors and crew. Also a possible distribution platform, both domestically and internationally.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
It would be good to get more publicity and definitely more interest from film festivals with a target audience and possible accolades for the cast and crew.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
In an ideal world it would be nice to have a producer take the seed of this and develop it into a feature. The mixed religion aspect alone has enough potential to create a lot of drama and a good plot.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
How can you avoid conflict in an interfaith marriage or is it a good idea to marry a person of a different religion.
Would you like to add anything else?
Considering this film was shot on a very small budget in one day, we are very pleased with how it came out. We utilised the one location we had very well. Half way through the shoot we were asked to move from the common areas of the building, by the building manager, which turned into a happy accident as we went from doing the conflict scene in a corridor while the actors were walking fast paced down a flight of stairs to a more intense location of the interior of the apartment, where there was little movement and was a little more claustrophobic and more dramatic.
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Kate is currently developing a female centric rock and role documentary. Jessica is working on getting representation and looking for her next projects and Raymond is developing a feature and is about to embark on the LA Collaborators filmmaking challenge.