BELITTLED
Belittled is an independent short film that was selected for this years Alexa Challenge, hosted by Directors UK and in partnership with ARRI. This annual scheme champions young Directors UK members, nurturing new and exciting talent.
Along with five other film-makers, writer/director Claire Tailyour was selected for this year's scheme. Each film in the competition had to incorporate the theme of 'delight' and schedule their film around a two-day shoot. Belittled was allocated a micro-production budget and was also given an Alexa mini shooting package containing anamorphic lenses.
We had an incredible shoot earlier this year and we test-screened to ARRI / Directors UK. Claire and the team got great feedback so we now need to polish the film in order to submit to a variety of high-tier international film festivals, as well as garner awards at the smaller BIFA & BAFTA qualifying festivals. We need your finishing fund support at this vital stage.
THE PROJECT - SYNOPSIS:
AMIRA, an Asian refugee wakes up in a Victorian English bedroom. The door is locked and it's pitch black outside. Strange happenings unfold; she gets thrown around the room without her control, loud noises, gusts of wind fly through the room and suddenly a small dog appears at her feet... how did it get there?
Suddenly a huge eye peeks through the window at Amira within. We discover that she's trapped inside a dolls house. She has been belittled to has become little. Amira must stand up for herself in order to grow. While escaping with her new canine friend, our heroine learns that her cultural belittling has become her physical state. As Amira learns to find her voice and stand up for herself, she and the dog break free from the miniature house and grow in size, ready to make their own way into the world.
WHY DO WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT:
1.) VFX - VFX - Belittled is laden with technical VFX shots that need time to perfect. Seamless VFX is costly and yet it's paramount to the narrative of our film and its characters.
2.) Festivals - We want our film to reach as many people as possible. After the film has had its industry screening, we want to target the high-tier international film festivals, but we also want to submit the film to smaller, home-grown festivals which are also BIFA & BAFTA qualifiers.
THE TEAM BEHIND BELITTLED:
CAST:
KIRAN SONIA SAWAR, Amira
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Kiran Sonia Sawar is a Scottish actress best known for her role in the one-off BBC drama ‘Murdered by My Father’. She also played one of the leading roles alongside Andrea Riseborough in ‘Crocodile’, an episode of the fourth season of the critically acclaimed series Black Mirror, for Netflix.
RAFFIELLA CHAPMAN, Sally
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Raffiella Chapman is a British actress best known for her role in Tim Burton’s ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’. She also featured alongside Eddie Redmayne in ‘The Theory of Everything’. Raffiella plays Anna in the forthcoming British psychological horror film ‘The Visitor’.
CREW:
CLAIRE TAILYOUR, Writer/Director
Award-winning Director and Writer Claire Tailyour was born in South Africa but raised in England. Claire has an MFA from USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles. Recently Claire has directed Channel 4's 'Hollyoaks', BBC documentaries including 'The Forgotten Girls of Dhaka', 'Working Lives: Tokyo's Women and Witness'. She is a BAFTA Crew member 15'&'16, a Sundance International Scriptwriter Semi-finalist, and a Semi-finalist for The Academy Awards' Nicholl Fellowship.
ANU ANDERSON, Producer
Anu is an independent film producer from London. After assisting Lucasfilm Producer, John Swartz on 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' she went on to assist BAFTA & EMMY winning Producer Alison Owen. Anu is currently producing a short film for Channel 4 Random Acts, which will be broadcast nationwide and premiere at Somerset House in London. She is passionate about storytelling and champions scripts that give a voice to unheard voices and electric stories.
AADEL NODEH-FARAHANI, Cinematographer
With a wealth of experience from the commercials industry, Aadel has worked as a Director of Photography for Nike, Disney, L'Oreal, Range Rover as well as many other international companies and brands. http://aadel.co.uk/
ALANNAH BYRNE, Production Designer
Alannah Byrne is a London based Set Designer working across productions in fashion, film, commercials and music promos. Her Fine Art background and talent for creating multifaceted environments are visible in the approach she takes to her work. https://www.alannahbyrne.com/
DIRECTORS STATEMENT:
"Belittled was born out of a dream I had in reaction to the belittlement of migrants in the current landscape. It tells of a repeated history and is vital that we tell this story now. By supporting this project you're not only backing an incredible cast and crew, but you're also investing in a message of hope and love. This short film was always going to be incredibly ambitious. We needed to tell a VFX heavy, visual story that involved animals and a grand historic house. It was a tough project to achieve in two days on a budget, but we did it with an incredible cast and crew. "
MOOD BOARD:
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