Hey! My name is Dylan and I'm a filmmaker from South London. 

We're hoping to raise some funds for the post-production stage of our short film 'Stiff Upper Lip.' 

It's a short film that explores modern ideas of masculinity and unpicks the false and limiting notions of what it means to be a man in the 21st century.

The film follows a sulky teenage schoolboy doing his washing in a launderette late at night, when he looks up to find a burly middle-aged man sobbing alone beside his dryer.

What follows is a wordless exchange of support and consolation between two strangers, that hopefully offers some discourse on what can happen when we trade phoney toughness and reserve for our innate empathy and kindness.

‘Big boys don’t cry.’

While it might feel like an old adage, there are still dominant elements of our contemporary culture that still value emotional toughness and restraint in men. 

I wanted to make a film that unpicks and quietly questions this long-maintained notion of masculinity, specifically the stereotypes surrounding ‘manliness’ and the stigma against exhibiting emotions.

This warm but brief interaction between our two characters in the laundrette setting would hopefully not only be a study and deconstruction of masculine stereotypes but a simple story of consolation and support between two people; the act of reaching out to a stranger and supporting their constructive expression of emotions.

Thanks to the production prowess of Intergalactic Studios, we’ve already surpassed principal photography.

I managed to snag the incredible award-winning Adam Singodia as our Director of Photography, whose incredible eye for detail has brought the story to life in a really beautiful, understated way.

I also managed to cast the talented Greg Mee and Ashley Durant for the leading roles, who both completely dove into the script's ideas and smashed their performances.

We shot on Super 16mm film in a small launderette in Peckham with a very friendly and talented crew and I’m still glowing from how well it went.

We’re now in the late stages of post-production, and this is the part where we need some help.

To really make this film the best it can be, we’d love it to have some attention from some A-list colourists and sound designers.

Because there’s no dialogue in the film, the sound design takes on a heightened level of significance in telling the story, alluding to the space the characters inhabit and the intimate gestures they share. 

The colours bare just as much importance, and we really want to make sure we can bring everything we want out of the film scans to best set the tone and make everything feel as cinematic as possible.

This stage of the edit process never comes cheap, and that’s why any support you can give would make a massive massive difference in helping this film across the finish line. There’s a whole bunch of perks for those of you choose to support the campaign, including credits in the final film, signed posters, etc. Fun stuff!

We'd love any additional funding to go towards the film's distribution.

The dream is for this film to get on the festival circuit and be seen by as many audiences as possible, so help with those submission fees is also a big win win.

If you can’t help out financially, that’s all good! Just sharing this widely is also such a big help in helping us meet our goal.

Thanks so much for reading and we’re really looking forward to sharing the finished film with you.

Dylan Friese-Greene

? BTS by Aubrey Simpson