our project
Fiction | Drama-comedy | 10 mins
Alan (40), in the terminal stage of pancreatic cancer, has less than 6 months of life to live, runs a photo studio. He is very negative about life and never smiles. One day, before the photo studio closed, Nala (20), came to visit, asking Alan to take a portrait of her for her funeral. This is Nala's annual routine, updating a profile photo in case of emergencies. After Nala leaves, Alan decided to take a photo of himself with smiling face. Through the process, Alan starts to face his death with optimism.
This project will be screened at Kingston University and at the ICA next January - since this is a graduation film for the MA filmmaking course.
Who are you?
Director | An Hsu | Kingston MA Filmmaking
Graduated from the Department of Radio and Television of National Taiwan University of Arts. Has participated in more than ten short feature films, three documentaries, of which three was the director, and won the 2021 Citizen Journalism Award. Has one year working experience in videography, photography and editing, mainly involved in documentaries and commercials of food, art, and concerts.
Producer | Ana Graça | Kingston MA Filmmaking
Graduated from Universidade Federal Fluminense BA Film and Audiovisual. Have experience in short fiction and documentary production and also a freelance illustrator.
Cinematographer | Lewis Shih | Profesional Videographer
Has more than five years working experience as videographer, photographer, editor in food & music industry, including concert and festival stills, commercial videos, documentaries, short feature films, music videos... Also a main videographer of a 326k subscribers YouTube channel.
Sound | Weili Wei | London Film MA Filmmaking
Graduated from the Department of Radio and Television of National Taiwan University of Arts. Had participated in more than ten short feature films and documentaries. The short film she made for the BA graduation project had been nominated by Taiwan International Queer Film Festival.
our story
This idea originated from my aunt used to look through the old photo album, pointed to the photo of her when she was young, and said to me, "If I die, remember to use this photo of my portrait of the deceased. I look the best in my 20s"
Life is impermanent, and it is really difficult to predict when one will die, but in this digital era, after removing all the filters, does anyone has a photo of "the best time" to face death?
I hope this work will take the audience on a journey to prepare for death in a lighthearted and witty way.
Where will the money go?
The money will all goes to the film production.
- Venue hire (photo studio for 2 days): £550
- Actors remuneration: £500
- Travel and food catering: £300
- Props and costumes: £250
Rewards
No matter the amount you donate, you will be credited in our film.
Find us here
You can find us on Instagram @the_portrait_film. We will regularly update our shooting and post production progress when we start the shooting.
Help us succeed!
Please don’t hesitate to donate any amount you like, your donation is very important to us! Thank you for whatever you can give.
Please share this project with anyone you think might be interested! We appreciate any kind of help, the more people it reaches out to, the more likely we can get to our goal!
