After uncovering a strange stain on his bedsheets, Miles struggles to return to his routine.
A short film by Eli Speigel.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH THE FILMMAKER
Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
I'm a director and editor from Toronto, Canada. I went to school for theatre, I was very interested in the Theatre of the Absurd. While at the University of Guelph, Judith Thompson told me that there's no longer a place for the Theatre of the Absurd in the current theatre landscape, and therefore no place for me. After graduating, and an additional year of drifting around Toronto in a depressed state, I cold-called a production manager and found myself working as a production assistant on commercial sets. I treated these often large film sets as my new school, and gradually learned to shoot, edit and direct on my own. This meant I could make my stupid and absurd scripts into a reality whether Judith Thompson liked it or not. So far, I'm still small potatoes, but I did get to go to New York City for a web series I directed, and I got accredited to go to Cannes to shop Stain in France (it got cancelled, of course, but I had nice daydreams for a few months), among other smaller things.
What was your inspiration behind Stain?
Stain is inspired by experiences I either actually had, exaggeratedly had, almost had, or sort-of had. The first bit of the inciting incident did really happen, the remainder of it is based on where one's mind sometimes goes when faced with a physical ailment that can't immediately be diagnosed. Those flashes of worst-case-scenarios that are often... farce. The setting and supporting characters of Stain are a distorted version of my own. Toronto is often viewed as a "safe and clean" city but in reality, it's a city of strange characters and well-to-do types masquerading as normal people.
We love the absurd awkward hilarity of your film. What advice would give filmmakers interested in making a comedy?
I'm not sure I'm in a position to give advice yet. I can say this though: if you're working in film, and you have a silly idea, and creative authorities around you don't like it, it's probably actually a really good idea and you should do everything in your power to finance it getting made, and well. Take favour jobs from talented people you respect in the industry. You'll likely learn so much from them and can call upon them when it comes time to make something of your own. If you consider yourself a "creative", still take every opportunity to learn the technical side of things. If you're like me, no one's lining up to buy your scripts, or shoot your movie. Fuck 'em. You can do it.
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.
It sucked. I finished post around October/November of 2019 and then spent a bunch of money to send it to "reputable" film festivals. These festivals all got screwed up by COVID, which is of course not their fault, but they decided to remedy the situation by just doing it online, not giving you a refund, delaying dates, and demanding your film stay private during that delay. The best part of these fests is supposed to be the theatrical experience, rubbing elbows, parties, etc, POOF. Eventually I turned my sights to Vimeo channels and websites like Beyond the Short, Film Shortage, Kino, Boom TV and others that have excellent programming for short films and it's all public. It costs either nothing or 5-10 bucks to submit and they get back to you in a few days. So everyone can watch it now! And it's not just clicking the "public" button on Vimeo, it's much nicer. People care.
Also Shoutout to Plastic Attic for talking to me about Stain. They're very good. Give 'em your attention.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
When it comes to shorts, there's a very long list. So I'll make a slightly shorter list of sites that program great stuff. In COVID times, ripping through great shorts is an excellent way to pass the time and see great filmmaking in quick hits.
I really like these sites and Vimeo channels: Director's Notes, Retrospective of Jupiter, Kino Short Film (hi!), Short of the Week, Beyond the Short, Booooooom TV, Film Shortage, Nowness, Director's Library, Divert Your Eyes
Interested in getting your work selected as Short of the Week?