Crestfallen Leaves

In my first year of uni, I took a part-time job working in a care home for mentally ill patients. I worked there for almost a year as a care assistant. I was responsible for entertaining and making sure the residents' daily needs were met. The residents' mental health issues ranged from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and dementia, all the way to depression. Their living condition was difficult and they were ignored by the people in charge and most of the other carers. There wasn’t much I could do as a carer who was just a uni student. During my time there, I met a resident by the name of Sharon. Sharon suffered from bipolar disorder. She was reclusive and would often keep to herself. She wouldn’t interact with other residents since their conversations didn’t have much reference points due to their mental health issues. She was also ignored by most of the other care assistants. As a result, she would usually sit by herself in the dining room. I managed to befriend Sharon and she would ask me to play board games with her. This became a ritual of ours where we would spend a good amount of time playing board games and engage in conversations about ourselves and our past. I learned about her traumatic early life experience and how it impacted her mental health and eventually brought her to the care home she was in. Eventually, due to the issues I had with the care home management, I was asked to leave. I dedicated this story to Sharon which is loosely based on her life.

 

In my last 2 years of uni, I wrote the script and worked on it many times. Eventually, I managed to save a good amount of money and with the help of friends and colleagues I met on other sets over the years, I managed to finally shoot this short film after graduating. I am grateful for all the help I received in order to make this short. Liliana’s character (which as mentioned, is inspired by Sharon) is someone whom society decided to ostracise, abandon and ignore and unfortunately their stories are glamorised by those who take advantage of the misery of people like Liliana, solely to benefit their own work and intellectual image even though these people approach their objects of study with kindness and compassion. Their glamorised work although perceived with admiration and labelled as enlightening as well as insightful, does nothing for the reality that people like Sharon and Liliana face every day, and that is what this work intended to explore: The politics of pity and the hypocrisy of altruism.

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Achievements: ​

* Award winner at Florence film awards - Best First-Time Director

* Bronze award winner at Independent Shorts awards - Best Women Short

* Award winner at IndieX film fest - Best Women Short 

* Award winner at Los Angeles Movie & Music Video Awards - Best Acting Duo

* Award winner at Florence International Film Festival - Best Experimental Short 

* Finalist at the London Directors awards - Best First-Time Director

* Nominated at IndieX film fest - Best Acting Duo

* Nominated at Indie Short Fest - Best First-Time Director

* Nominated at Indie Short Fest - Best Indie Short

​* Honourable mention at Independent Shorts Awards - Best First-Time Director 

* Honourable mention at Hollywood Best Indie Film Awards - Indie Short Film (low budget) 

* Selected at Cannes short film festival ​