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The Knicker Thief

Synopsis: 

Lewis is an enterprising young man. He runs a small company with a friend called “Pets at Home” a service for pet lovers who’s primary role is to look after customers pets while they are away on holiday. Lewis loves his job because it also allows him to indulge in his fetish for stealing women’s knickers.

On this particular morning Lewis is quite excited as he has a new client to visit called Miss Smith. After feeding the cat he eagerly searches through Miss Smith’s underwear draw. A pink thong captures his attention, and he decides to try it on. The ambience is disturbed by a cascade of events, as first Lewis’s receives a phone call from Miss Smith and secondly while getting dressed Lewis misplaces a sock. He checks under the bed where he makes a shocking discovery. Beneath the bed is a dead body!

Lewis feels conflicted about what to do. If he calls the Police he has to reveal why he was in the bedroom. He is tempted to forget about what he’s seen but his conscience wants him to do the right thing.

Lewis panics and decides to return the wallet and forget everything. He goes back to Miss Smith’s house. It’s late afternoon and a little dark now. The tension builds as Lewis rushes to return the wallet knowing that Miss Smith could be back home at any moment. Unfortunately, the killer is already home.

Runtime: 
8 Minutes 46 Seconds
English subtitle: 
No
Information for the Audience: 

Directors Statement

The story for this film was inspired by an event that took place a few years back. I live on a typical inner city street full of houses owned by landlords and an ever changing population. One day someone knocked at the door. It was a man and his wife who wanted to introduce themselves as my new neighbour. They were very nice and after a few months they asked me if I would feed their cats while they were away. I agreed knowing that they would expect to return the favour and feed my cat. So this became the crux of the story. To, invest trust in someone to take care of something precious knowing that the person is a stranger. The story developed into what would happen if we had a character who regularly violated the trust given to him by others who then happened to do this to someone quite terrible.

Ten FAQ’s From The Making Of The Knicker Thief

Q) How did you fund this film?

A) Myself and my wife chose to fund the film. I had missed various funding deadlines but I asked a lot of people to read the script and the feedback that I received gave me a lot of confidence.

Q) What was the point of making this film?

A) The ultimate goal is to make a feature, so any project like this just helps to develop the storytelling skills required to do that.

Q) Did you have any goals when you started this project?

A) The one goal that we had was to get the film into one film festival. The reason being that it would validate our project. We ended up getting into four festivals and getting pretty close to a couple of others. We also won an award at the Pacific Coast Premiere Short Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Q) What did you shoot the film on?

A) The film was shot on Red at 4K. I really like these new hire resolution data formats.

Q) How did you get such experienced people involved in your project?

A) I went to film school at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design where I met most of the people involved in this project. All their talents have contributed to the success of this film.

Q) What was the best part of making this film?

A) There are too many. Maybe the first rehearsal, just seeing the actors bring the characters to life. Also seeing the first assembly of the edit.

Q) Where did you get stuck and how did you resolve the problem?

A) There are always issues when there is so much to organise. However for us, it wasn’t supposed to rain but it did. We found some practical solutions to resolve this though.

Q) What was the most fundamental thing about this project?

A) I think getting the script right is the starting point. Once that’s right, everything else falls into place. The actors come on board along with the other creatives.

Q) How important was the sound and soundtrack to this film?

A) The sound is half of the film, so obviously very important. We found a great Composer to write the soundtrack. We knew we needed a jazzy sound, it helps with the humour. I love the spot effect of the mobile phone ring tone. The sound post department made that up.

Q) What happens now?

A) We already have another project in production called “Elroy’s Birthday” that should be complete by January 2018.

Cast Biographies

Russell Morton

Russell is a vastly experienced actor who’s appeared in many short films and theatre productions. He recently played Mr Popper in Mr Popper’s Penguins which played on both Broadway and the West End.

 

Brandon Force

Originally from Orange County, California, Brandon received a BFA in Theatre Performance from Chapman University iin 2005. He was an Associate Director at the London Theatre Workshop from 2013-2017, where he directed The Tempest, Romeo & Juliet, Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness!, and Tennessee Williams’ Interior: Panic. He co-wrote and produced a new play called TRIBE in July 2017. Acting credits include theatre productions of Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors, Richard III, Parade and Assassins. 

Cameron Slater

Cameron Slater's work as an actor includes:Film: Dawn Rescue; Television: Pram Face; Stage: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Manchester Library Theatre), Tom's MidnightGarden (Birmingham Stage Company and national tour), Winter's Tale (Mess up the Mess)

 

Hong Khaou

Thinker, drinker, maker. Resides in London. 

Crew Biographies

Ravin Vythelingum

Rav is a Writer, Producer and Director who started off working in the Music Videos directing a couple for a band called Lunarsea. The Knicker Thief is his first short film, which has been quite successful. He’s currently in post-produvtion on his latest short called Elroy’s Birthday.

Mark Towns

Mark is a BAFTA and RTS award-winning editor based in Sussex.  His film projects include Hong Khaou's BAFTA nominated film debut, LILTING which won the Dinard Film Festival Prix Coup De Coeur and was officially selected for Sundance. Like Hong, Mark also has a long collaboration with writer/director Stephen Fingleton and he cut his BAFTA nominated debut THE SURVIVALIST which was officially selected for both the Tribeca Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. Mark won the BAFTA Craft Award for Best Factual editor for his work on Emmy winning documentary series EDUCATING YORKSHIRE.  Mark’s most recent credits include THE RITUAL directed by David Bruckner for The Imaginarium Studios which is coming to the cinemas in October.

Richard Lonsdale

Richard Lonsdale is a cinematographer with 20 years of experience shooting drama, as well as making films for advertisers and fashion brands. He has shot films that have competed in the Sundance, Berlin and London film festivals.

Nick Dalby

Nick is a colourist who joined UNIT just over a year ago after meeting UNIT’s Head of Colour Grading Scott Harris and has since been one of the facility’s rising creative talents. Working within the already successful Grade team has enabled Nick to build on his career in crafting beautiful images. One of Nick’s stand out jobs was a Music Promo for Sampha – Blood on Me, a beautifully shot, experimental film on 16mm.

Most recently finished a series of ads for Toyota as well as being part of the team some high profile jobs such as Hotels.com , Let Go Norway and This Girl Can. He also recently delivered a beautiful grade on Alice Jemima’s promo for her new single “Take Me Back”. Nick has recently been enrolled for a second year into the Bafta Crew and BFI film network.

Directed by: 
Ravin Vythelingum
Writing credits: 
Ravin Vythelingum
Cast: 
Russell Morton, Brandon Force, Cameron Slater, Hong Khaou
Produced by: 
Gillian Vythelingum, Ravin Vythelingum
Music by: 
Jon Spanyol
Cinematography by: 
Richard Lonsdale
Film Editing by: 
Mark Towns
Release Date: 
Friday, January 1, 2016
Total votes: 1333

Subtitles: