Erie International Film Festival / Nukhu Festival 2018 - Escape Room
A high school girl struggles with her decision to join her sister and friends for an Escape Room after noticing she’s mistakenly part of a revenge ploy stuck in a room for survival.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Bessy Adut
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Thank you. I made this film because I had a passion for horror/thriller films since I’ve known myself. I finally found the courage to go for it. My idea was to turn the proof of concept short to a feature film. I find the Escape Room concept very interesting and I believe it’s going to be a new horror sub genre as haunted house films. There will be many and I’d like our film to be one of the best.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
You should watch this film because it’s a very fun and interesting teen slasher. There is a strong female protagonist and antagonist. You become part of a journey solving a smart, psychological puzzle. And as in every good horror film, you will experience scream and laughter together and reach an emotional catharsis.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
There are undertones of bullying in the film. I believe being bullied is no different than abuse and leaves psychological scars on people – sometimes bigger than others. The antagonist of the film is after revenge because she was bullied too much. This is a personal issue for me and I always stood up for my friends when they were being bullied and it’s also a universal issue that needs to be discussed.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I optioned a feature screenplay first. Then started co-writing the short film with my writer friend Xenia Purrigros. We decided to make the short film as a proof of concept to follow some good leads such as “Saw” and “Whiplash”. We made the short film different from the feature screenplay and saved the best parts.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I did many pre screenings during editing process. After final cut I got particularly good feedback in terms of my directing and storytelling skills. Most people enjoyed the movie.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
Yes, during editing process we took the feedback very seriously into consideration and it helped us during the post-production process a lot. We spent months after filming for post-production, color correction and sound mixing to reach perfection.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I believe enabling us to reach a larger audience and gaining more support as diverse & women filmmakers, for me and my team, will be great. It will help us to put our work out there and accomplish more projects with our film careers.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
For the short film, I am open to distribution offers. For the feature film, I am looking for producers who can find us investors. As soon as we get the feature film funded we are ready to go and shoot the feature film. I also have other screenplays under my belt that can be considered. I have a manager but an agent would be really wonderful to be able to pitch more studios and production companies so I am in need for an agent. I’d like to be hired as a writer/director more often.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I’d love people to scream and laugh as they watch my film. The purpose of horror is entertainment so I really would like my audience to enjoy the film. If they’re discussing the film after reviewing that would make me happy too.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Are we responsible from the violence happening in the world? I believe we are either by being a part of bullying group or simply ignoring/avoiding the vulnerable who need our help. Love can heal the world and hate can destroy.
Would you like to add anything else?
I’d love to hear more feedback from audience after reviewing our film.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Here’s 3 loglines of the feature screenplays I’ve written and would like to direct aside from “Shadows in the Room”,
THE TURK: Based on an 18th Century true story, a chess prodigy love-struck for a Princess must overcome his working class insecurities, her jealous fiancé, and his secret as the operator inside of a chess-playing mechanical robot to win her hand in marriage.
ASTRAL PROJECTION GIRL: A college student whose best friend is murdered under mysterious circumstances uses astral projectionto find the murderers and bring them to justice.
LOVE PUZZLE: A young woman realizes that life is full of mysteries and love is a puzzle waiting to be solved. She leaves her emotionally abusive fiancé and goes on a mission to find the missing piece in her heart that she longs for to feel complete.
I also have a TV show written called “Daydreamers” but I would like to make my first feature film first.
Interview: December 2018
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Escape Room
A high school girl struggles with her decision to join her sister and friends for an Escape Room after noticing she’s mistakenly part of a revenge ploy stuck in a room for survival.
Director: Bessy Adut
Writer: Bessy Adut, Xenia Purrigros
Producer: Bessy Adut, Nicole Pasminski, Colin Costello, Stephen Boatright
About the writer, director and producer:
BESSY ADUT is a film director, producer and screenwriter resides Los Angeles, California. She holds an MFA in Film Directing from CalArts as a Fulbright Scholar and a BA in Film & Television from Istanbul Bilgi University. Most recently she graduated from UCLA Professional Screenwriting program developing two feature screenplays. She has a passion for satirical comedy and likes to have diversity in her work. She was a screenplay grant winner in Turkey, she wrote and directed “Tolerance” and “Strange Little Girl” screened in several international festivals in Los Angeles “Pasadena Art Center Film Festival winner”, New York “Brooklyn Art Film Festival” and Istanbul “Akbank Film Festival winner”. She directed and hosted an international documentary “Mysteries of Cinema” and “Inside the Lens” for V1VFX Studios. She has worked as a freelance Assistant Director, Script Supervisor and Production Assistant in commercials, independent films and Television formats. She also taught “Film Production” and “Film Editing” classes in University. She worked as a freelance videographer/photographer mostly for art events and promo videos. She started her own business in 2015 and opened “Queen B. Film Hive” for all kinds of Film & Television productions.
Key cast: Jolie Vanier, Brett Schaberg, Alfredo Rose, Laurelle Mabalot. Emma Freyre, Nicoletta Hynes
Looking for: producers
Facebook: Escape Room film
Instagram: @theescaperoomfilm
Funders: Indiegogo Fundraising Campaign
Made in association with: Producers Nicole Pasminski, Eric Sherman and Brandon Miree
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? It will be screened at Nukhu Festival and it’s in consideration for many other horror film festivals right now. It will be posted on our social media.