Monday, April 29th, 2013
Official Selection 2013 / Winner of Best Short Film
A postman in quiet English suburbia does his early morning rounds. He knows this street and its residents like the back of his hand, and today’s just another day, but for some reason, his mind is somewhere else… today it is all about 82.
Director: Calum Macdiarmid
Producer: Alexei Slater, Jessica Turner
Writer: Alexei Slater
Key cast and other credits:
The Postman – Nick Moran
Director’s Statement
‘One of my key ambitions in the making of 82 was to make something truly entertaining. This may sound like an obvious desire, but having done the short film circuit the year before with my first film Worship, I noticed a certain trend towards films that were overly ‘worthy’ or preachy. Often filmmakers had a message that they were passionate about but lost the audience in trying so hard to tell this obscure, or indulgent story. For me the production of 82 was an exercise in either keeping the audience laughing, curious, or shocked.’
Calum Macdiarmid
Director’s Bio
Calum Macdiarmid is an artist and director concerned with the aesthetics of beauty, light, and liquid. His work largely experiments with new techniques to create new effects. His last short film, Worship, has won him critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic and entered the festival circuit by winning the Gold Grand Jury prize at the Promax short film awards. Calum studied Illustration at Kingston before going on to work as an illustrator for MTV. From there he sidestepped into animation and directing the MTV idents. He went on to use animation and directing to brand channels such as Channel 4, Living, Bravo, and Virgin 1 with award winning results. He is currently signed to Great Guns Production company where he now directs commercials for clients such as Saatchi M&C, Rainy Kelly Y&R, and the BBC. Calum is represented by Great Guns in the UK and Asia for commercial directing.
Writer’s Statement
‘I wrote a short story/monologue about a mischievous postman and was encouraged by some friends who read it to convert it to a film… after thinking about it, I realised it could be converted to voice over and then started working/developing it with our visionary and creative director Calum… the rest is history!’
Alexei Slater
Writer’s Bio
Alexei graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2005 with a degree in English Literature & Film. After various intern roles including Miramax, he joined HandMade Films in 2006 and worked as assistant to the Head of Production, then for the sales and marketing arm of the company, attending the Berlin Film Market and the Cheltenham Screenwriters Festival. He also worked at the company during the production and sales of films including Cracks starring Eva Green, Fifty Dead Men Walking with Ben Kingsley and the animated film Planet 51, voiced by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson released by Sony Studios. He also looks after the maintenance of the prestigious Handmade film library which includes titles such as Withnail & I, Mona Lisa and Time Bandits. As well as doing freelance script development, Alexei wrote and produced the short film 82 in 2012 starring Nick Moran.
Producer’s Bio
Jessica graduated from the University of Kent with a degree in English Literature and Film Studies. She began her training as an assistant script supervisor working on the BBC Production of A Short Stay in Switzerland. From then on she worked as a Production Assistant on a variety of projects within the television, film and videogame industries. Jessica joined Future Films; a film financing company in March 2010, working in the Production and Development department; assisting with the development and packaging of film projects. Jessica also works for Zero Gravity, a talent management company, working to find UK and European writing, directing and acting talent seeking US representation. In addition to co-producing 82, she has co-produced two other short films this year.
Online Links
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2225668/
British Council: http://film.britishcouncil.org/821
Facebook: ‘82 – A Short Film’
Calum Macdiarmid: http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/calum-macdiarmid/
Judges’ Comments
“Great story with a brilliant twist.” – Sarah Godfrey
“Strong story told well, especially nice pace to the film. Really satisfying pay off too. Nick Moran perfectly cast.” – Steve Furst
“Taut, stylish and absolutely to the point, with a compelling performance at the center.” – Jon Harris
“An excellent twist, very well constructed and with an absolutely hateful lead character.” – Olivia Coleman
“This is a piece you would use to show people how to structure a short film. Really well executed and perfectly shot. It takes you by surprise all the time, culminating in that final twist which made me gasp out loud. Nick Moran’s acting is impeccable. Perfectly framed, concise, witty (funny, even), brutal and completely unpredictable. It’s a cut-throat razor of a film. Look forward to Calum MacDiarmid’s future work.” – Tim McInnerny
Posted in: Official Selection, NFF2013, Nominated Films, 2013 Films In Detail