Private Project

When We Dance

On the night of his wife's funeral, a widower finds an old record of the song that was playing when they first met. He plays the song and his wife's ghost returns to him for a brief moment causing him to question everything he believes in...

  • Charles Pieper
    Director
    Malacostraca
  • Kenny J. Wright
    Writer
  • Kenny J. Wright
    Producer
  • Joel Garay
    Producer
  • JT Winkler
    Executive Producer
  • Larry Cedar
    Key Cast
    "Henry"
    Deadwood, Marvel's Runaways, Star Trek Voyager
  • Molly Hagan
    Key Cast
    "Emilia"
    iZombie, Sully, Star Trek DS9, Seinfeld
  • Caleb Thomas
    Key Cast
    "Young Henry"
    Modern Family, Chase Champion, Hollywood Darlings
  • Nathan Caywood
    Key Cast
    "Jacob"
    Children's Hospital, American Housewife, Glitch
  • Nikki Taguilas
    Key Cast
    "Julia"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Romance, Supernatural, Drama
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 2, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    17,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Filmquest
    Provo, Utah
    United States
    September 11, 2019
    World Premiere
    Nominated for 'Best Actor in a short' & 'Best Soundtrack in a short.'
  • Other worlds Austin
    Austin, Texas
    United States
    December 6, 2019
    Texas Premiere
  • San Diego Film Week
    San Diego, CA
    United States
    April 22, 2020
    West Coast Premiere
  • Horrible Imaginings Film Festival
    San Diego
    United States
    September 1, 2020
  • Hollyshorts
    Los Angeles
    United States
    November 9, 2020
  • Culver City Film Festival
    Culver City
    United States
    December 4, 2020
    Best Romance Short
  • Dam Short Film Festival
    Boulder City, Nevada
    United States
    February 11, 2021
    BEST SCI-FI/HORROR
Director Biography - Charles Pieper

Charles Pieper is an LA based filmmaker. He's directed numerous shorts and has written several feature screenplays. He comes from a stop motion animation background but works most frequently in live action production.
His short film ‘Malacostraca’ played in over 30 festivals across the world including top horror fests such as Overlook, Beyond Fest, and Motel X, before premiering online at Director’s Notes and ALTER.
His latest short ‘When We Dance’ is a tragic romance that's currently making the 2020 fest rounds. He attended Emerson College in Boston as well as studied film and animation at FAMU, NCSA, Calarts, and MassArt.

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Director Statement

Kenny and I met at a film festival in 2018. I was there with my prior short 'Malacostraca.' Kenny admired that film and we hit it off pretty much immediately. After the fest he approached me with some of his scripts and asked if I'd like to direct any that stood out to me.
'When we Dance' certainly stood out to me. It's a powerfully emotional and universally relatable story of love, loss, life, and even perhaps... the afterlife. I knew I had to direct it for it would be a fun creative challenge (and one way different than my last short).
I am proud of the end result and feel it's an excellent marriage between Kenny's writing and my directing style.
'When we Dance' made my dad so emotional he cried. Maybe it'll make you cry too...