BEHOLDEN, 14min., UK
Directed by Leon Lopez
Lee's only hope of escaping prison on a murder charge is his childhood sweetheart, who is now a lawyer. Will Carlie be willing to revisit the traumatic past, she worked so hard to get away from, in order to save him?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21036990/
https://www.facebook.com/BeholdenFilm/
https://twitter.com/TrilateralP
https://www.instagram.com/beholden_film/

Get to know writer/producers Louise Ann Munro & Marcus Kai:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
We were interested in how having a traumatic childhood affects someone's adulthood. For example why one child who had experienced adversity could end up in a life of crime, whilst another seemingly goes onto thrive with a successful career and home and what makes the difference.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
We came up with the idea and wrote the film during lockdown 2020-2021, raised the finance and filmed it in 2022 and completed the film in summer 2023.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Unbreakable Bond

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Finances. We ran a successful kickstarter campaign to raise money to make the film, but then had to work lots of jobs to raise money ourselves to complete the film, so it took longer than we planned to complete.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
We were both really pleased that people understood our film and why we wanted to tell it. It was lovely to hear such positive feedback about the film and people's opinions on the characters and their relationships.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
We both started in the industry as actors, but realised we had our own stories to tell. Being part of other people's productions showed us it was possible to create our own.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Louise's is 'Shawshank Redemption'. Marcus' is 'The Fellowship of the Ring'.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
In person screenings that we can invite industry people to would be great. Also even though it's brilliant receiving positive feedback to help promote our film, it would also be beneficial to receive a private email with any feedback you thought we could do to improve our film / future work.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
The site is really useful and seems to run really well.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Louise's is a Sunday Roast Dinner. Marcus' is vegetarian tapas,

11. What is next for you? A new film?
We are currently developing the Beholden feature film.