Calico is written by Sarah Mavity and Jake Mavity and directed by Jake Mavity. It follows Lorrie, a teenager with severe vitiligo, who is ostracized at school and retreats into her own imaginative world of comic books and animation. She steals the school’s talking goldfish, escapes school and briefly enjoys a newfound freedom. However the pair run into danger, putting their new friendship under threat.
Calico has started its journey on the festival circuit and will be released in the coming months. Stay tuned!
Selsey Bill is written and directed by Jake Mavity. Inspired by kitchen-sink drama, the film follows two angry and dysfunctional brothers reuniting following their dad’s funeral. Set over three acts, Selsey Bill uses the bleak, seaside location as a metaphor for their own mental states.
The first act takes place on a bench; a rigid and inflexible object juxtaposed against the forgiving sea. The second act occurs on the shingle of the beach; the borders between land and sea blurring just as the perceived differences between the brothers blurs too. And the final act is set in the English Channel itself; the redemptive sea joining them together as one and washing away their past grievances.
The film stars Daniel Kendrick and Matthew Jure. Beneath their overt anger, each brings vulnerability to their role in highly nuanced performances. The music is composed by Benjamin Woodgates and evokes the cold sea that surrounds the two brothers. The cinematographer, Edward Tucker, shot the main body of the short on 16mm film to heighten the sense of portraiture. He used DV-Cam footage for the home-video style footage that bookends the film to give a palpable sense of contrast as well as a authenticity to those scenes. The film is skillfully edited by Gary Forrester, who uses his outstanding story-telling skills to deliver a characterful drama that subtly builds to its dramatic finale.
The film has won several awards including ‘Best Director’ and has been selected at over a dozen short film festivals.