Fantasia Film Festival: Break My Bones
August 02, 2016 by Carmela Baranowska
A troubled 10-year-old girl confronts her own capacity for evil when her mother forces her to seek the mentorship of a disturbed old man.
Interview with Producer/Co-writer David Haynes
Thank you. We made Break My Bones after a year-long process of brainstorming and drafting ideas based upon a strange incident in my neighborhood involving the tragic death of an elderly man. We talked a lot about the fears we have as fathers to young children, the threats around us now -- both real and imagined -- that we are now especially sensitive to as parents. We also talked a lot about "genre" and the slipperiness of that concept, but we shared an attraction to the thriller and horror genres, which can be, when used well, the most provocative structures for exploring compelling ideas in a visceral and memorable way.
Could we combine the mysterious death of the old man, the fears we have as parents, and the horror/thriller film genre into an original, accessible, and entertaining short film? That was how we came to make Break My Bones.
Imagine I'm a member of the audience. Why should I see this film?
We have attempted to make a beautiful and complicated short film that circulates significant questions: How do the young and the old cope with fear of death? How does a parent deal with an extremely sick child? Who is "upstairs?" How do we keep our children safe? Is there such a thing as a productive dark fantasy?
You should see Break My Bones because it's both entertaining and challenging. You should see it because the performances are brave and beautiful, the words and images honest, and the look and feel are professional and careful.
Anthony and I pledged that we did not want any "junk" in Break My Bones, and our cinematographer, Geoff George, was critical in ensuring that every shot contributed and moved the story forward.
Everything in the film matters. And we can promise at least one eerie and true image that you will have a hard time forgetting.
Break My Bones: Violet awake in bed at night.
The two are intertwined organically (we hope) in Break My Bones. Since the movie is based on our own experiences as fathers and our own experiences with our children, the movie's themes are inherently personal. On the other hand, we know that our fears and worries are universal. What parent isn't anxious about potential threats facing his/her child? We know that the questions we circulate in Break My Bones are broad and philosophical, but will also be familiar to most viewers.
Still, this film is about Violet's experience with her neighbors, and it's about Violet's personal efforts to move from fear to triumph, to find some way, be it dark or light or somewhere in between, to cope with a life-threatening illness and to evolve just a little.
One thing we did not want to do was to create a sentimental story about a sick young girl. We wanted to address the rougher questions and empower our character differently. We wanted Violet to be a hero and a villain. We wanted her to be a normal child. We thought of Break My Bones as a sort of subversive superhero film with horror signifiers. We love the character and we found an amazing young actress, Eloise Lushina to play her. Her performance is remarkable.
The script and film evolved constantly. What was once a linear story (that went on too long) became a careful dialogue between images that maintained the integrity of the original script without adhering to its exact order and structure. Our Italian composer, Andrea Grant, created an unexpected and lovely musical language and our sound designer in Australia, Frank Lipson, injected potency and intrigue in unexpected moments.
Our colorist, Thomas Therchilsen, in Denmark, helped make visible the tone of the film-- again, sometimes in unexpected ways. We gave everyone a free hand to start with and then worked more closely with notes and conversations. We hired incredibly talented artists at every stage and that came from serious research, the raising of additional money, and then of course courting them with everything we had.
Break My Bones: Violet outside the mysterious Cleveland house.
Early on, before coloring and sound design, we sent the film to a few industry people and film scholars. The response was very encouraging. They suggested we had successfully fused an art film with an entertaining genre story. Then at a private screening for the cast and crew, we got a lot of feedback that suggested ourcontributors were very proud to have been involved in the production and loved the finished product.
Many viewers commented on the beauty of the cinematography and performances, and we had a sense that it was entertaining to people, and that people wanted to re-watch it. When they did, they liked it even better. We like that, of course, but we didn't want to have to tell potential festivals: "you have to watch this three times!".
Finally we started hearing back from film festivals. Not only were we thrilled to premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Canada, but we were treated to an amazing write-up from the co-director, Mitch Davis. At the premiere, many were impressed by Eloise's performance, which didn't surprise us one bit. We were asked many times where we found such a talented young actress. We have no doubt she has a great career in front of her. During the question and answer session with the audience, Anthony was asked a number of questions about Break My Bones that suggested some in the audience were intrigued by the ideas we circulate in the film and wanted to get his take on them. It was wonderful.
In a couple of weeks, we have our US premiere at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and then our California premiere at Hollyshorts, in Hollywood, Ca.
Absolutely. At Fantasia, an audience member asked a question about the supernatural in Break My Bones. We made a pact early on to keep the film "on the ground" and as real as possible, so it was interesting to still get questions about whether or not the supernatural is at work (it was a great question, too). One early viewer provided a feminist reading of Violet's experience that was fascinating and that we loved.
We have tiny ambiguities in Break My Bones, but they're intentional and not the sort where you throw up your hands and say, "anyone's guess!" Instead, we feel they open cool questions. That was sort of a litmus test for us when showing it to audiences. Are these good spaces we're leaving or do we need to provide more information? At times, the editing had to change a little to make sure things were absolutely clear. At other times, we said, "we're not answering that because answering it means nothing." That's a difficult balance, but I think we achieved it.
Break My Bones: Mr. Cleveland through the window of his house.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on wearemovingstories.com?
We like the site and the mission of the site a lot. We love your coverage of lesser-known films by emerging filmmakers, and that you give voice to people who worked incredibly hard on beautiful projects that may be seen by very few because of a lack of industry connections, bad luck, or the lack of finances for marketing and distribution (which is a given for many of us). The interviews are wonderful, the filmmakers as smart and interesting as any out there.
We jumped at the chance to share our experience with Break My Bones and add our voices to the many you highlight here, and we feel fortunate to be included.
Who do you need to come on board to amplify this film's message?
We would like to leverage the experience of Break My Bones, and whatever exposure and interest we're able to garner over time, into financing for the making of a feature film for a theatrical run. Anthony and I have a couple of original scripts in process and we have developed a reputation for treating our cast and crew well and getting the absolute best out of our contributors. We hope the professionalism of our finished product speaks to our professionalism as filmmakers. We are serious people who understand the responsibility of filmmaking. But we are mostly unknowns, so we depend upon the film speaking for itself and then the generosity of your site and other outlets that wish to help us tell our story.
In short, we hope to find a good distribution deal for Break My Bones and then producers and financiers who believe in what we can do and want to help us move forward.
We would like Break My Bones to be considered the greatest film ever made. But we will settle for excited audiences, interested producers, and more and more opportunities to share our work with other audiences and filmmakers. We would like the film to serve as a highlight in the reels of our many talented cast and crew members and to help them to get the kind of work that is worthy of their remarkable talents.
We strive to have the opportunity to do this again but with more resources and time (Break My Bones was shot in 5 days and had many different locations and sequences). We want to reach a wide national and international audience with a great feature film.
What's a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Here are a couple of possibilities:
A. How does Break My Bones challenge our assumptions about the most effective strategies for helping children cope with serious threats?
B. How and why does Break My Bones use horror signifiers to amplify Violet's conflict?
C. How do children and the old cope with existential threats differently? How does Violet do this?
Anthony and I are developing a horror-thriller that takes place in Southern Italy amid the immigration crisis.
Film Title: Break My Bones
Length: 23 minutes.
Director: Anthony Collamati
Producer: David Haynes
Writers: Anthony Collamati and David Haynes
About the writer, director, and producer:
Anthony Collamati is a filmmaker and professor of new media at Alma College in Michigan. His first short, Apology, played at numerous festivals and won the Midwest Independent Film Project Production Fund grant. In Chicago, he received awards for his work with short documentary and commercial clients. He continues to direct projects for non-profits and runs a filmmaking workshop for children.
David Haynes is a filmmaker and teacher of gifted and talented high school juniors and seniors at the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. He has taught courses on Alfred Hitchcock and contemporary American film directors, as well as courses on imaginative writing. He has published on film and works as a creative producer and writer with Anthony.
Eloise Lushina -- Violet
Debbie Williams-- Cindy
Will Young -- Mr. Cleveland
Loretta Higgins -- Mrs. Cleveland
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists)
Producers, distributors, journalists, film festival directors, agents
David Ross, Executive Producer
Lilly Endowment Teacher Creativity Fellowship
Pine River Arts Council Grant
World premiere: July 19th, 2016, Fantasia International Film Festival
Where can I watch it in the next month:
US Premiere: Rhode Island International Film Festival, Providence, RIAugust 13th, 3:30pm program
California Premiere: Hollyshorts Film Festival, Hollywood, CA, August 14th, 10pm program
Other festivals and screenings to be announced.
August 02, 2016 /Carmela Baranowska