Hold My Hand

Written, directed by Lucy Hilton Jones & Elliot Taylor

PRODUCED by Greenfingers Film

In this recognisable advert, a gang of giddy sunseekers go on a trip they’ll never forget.

ABOUT THE FILM

HOLD MY HAND was a straight-to-online release, but has since been screened at Blade and Bow Showcase, Glasgow and Adult Film Club, Manchester.

ABOUT THE FILMmaker

Lucy Hilton Jones is an award-winning actor/writer/director and co-founder of Greenfingers Film. A two-time Funny Women Award finalist and BBC Comedy Collective semi-finalist, her short films have been screened nationally and internationally. She loves working on projects that mix realism and the absurd with levity and playfulness. Her first feature film is currently in development.

Elliot Taylor is a Manchester based Writer, Director and Editor. As a filmmaker, he is interested in using comedy and horror to poke fun at societal issues. His previous short film Bin Day (2023) was a silly exploration into AI and how it can be used for job automation. This film went on to be screened at the BAFTA qualifying Manchester Film Festival. It also won Best Ensemble Cast at the Comedy Short Awards, as well as winning Best Low Budget Short Film at Romford Film Festival.

Greenfingers Films is an internationally award-winning film collective based in Manchester. It consists of Writer/Directors Lucy Hilton-Jones and Elliot Taylor as well as Director of Photography Dann Cooper. All of our films have a focus on the silly, spooky and surreal.

READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH elliot and lucy

**Welcome back to our Short of the Week series. What have you been up to since we last featured your work - Nanny Neigh Neigh?**

Thanks so much for having us again! We've been up to all sorts. At the end of 2022 we, for some reason, decided it would be a good idea to shoot three films in a weekend. Luckily our delusions paid off! They're now all at the end of their festival runs having done very nicely, so we'll be releasing those soon. We also shot another short in the Hold My Hand location (can you tell we like to make our lives hard) and that's almost done in post so we'll be submitting that to festivals soon.

Tell us about the genesis of Hold My Hand.

We were asked to collaborate with Cozmos Films on a project shooting in a villa in Spain. Our only stipulation was that we could use the location for a Greenfingers project as well. Elliot worked on a certain set of travel adverts that you may recognise. HMH is a response to the horror of hearing such a chirpy pop song on repeat in the edit suite.

**What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Hold My Hand and how did you overcome them?**

This is the first time we've worked with VFX in one of our shorts. We're super happy with how it turned out (shout out to Natascha Farmer) but in retrospect, we should have consulted with someone before we filmed to make post-production even easier. Also, Lucy learned the hard way that there are both edible and toxic versions of fake blood.

Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences.

Like Nanny Neigh Neigh, we decided to put this film straight online. It's short and snappy and, in all honestly, we simply don't have a festival budget for all of our projects. We've had an amazing response on our Instagram and Youtube but we'd always like to reach more people so thanks for giving us a platform!

What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?

Keep momentum going if you can because the only way you'll learn is by doing. The simplest films can be the most effective so don't wait around for funding. Your taste will never match your art because your taste evolves with your development so don't be afraid to put things out if they aren't perfect in your eyes.