Midway through lockdown, and I’m itching more than ever to get out there and ‘make’. Sure, I can pass the time and work from home, explore the resources I have long forgotten; cameras, boxes, backdrops… I’m keeping myself busy at least, but it’s Saturday morning, and something springs to mind whilst doing a spot of technical upkeep in my home-office. My nominated short film “Two tickets, please?” has been sitting patiently on a harddrive for at least a year now.
Set in an old rundown cinema, sadly now deceased (RIP The Hollywood), it’s become poignant now more than ever, with cinemas up and down the country closed for the foreseeable. The idea of watching my short again, stemmed such an excitement for feeling the atmosphere of a picturehouse, the smell of popcorn in the foyer, the bobbling of the worn out seats. This is the perfect time to open it up.
Two tickets has served it’s purpose (for me), so why not fire up the projector and get the film rolling? A quick upload later, and I’ve secured a 7pm Youtube premiere. I spent the afternoon re-posting a few old bits and pieces of festival promo. The film gained Official Selection at The London Short Film Festival in 2019, and bagged a nomination along the way. Re-watching it over two years later, and it’s a charming little thing really. And as The Cinema Man locks up at the end of the film, I appreciate the flaws, sketchy at times, but unabsentmindedly, it fills it’s boots with the purpose it set out to. So, tonight, I invite you on a trip to the movies; “Two tickets, please?”