Private Project

I Want for Nothing

What does Daisy want? Right now, more than anything, she wants a friend - but she's crippled by a devastating shyness.

What do you want? We all long for something, but wanting it and having it are two very different things.

I Want for Nothing is a darkly ironic comedy-drama: a bizarre, magic-realist fable about the things we want, about the highs & lows of friendship, and how even the best things can go bad.

"A vibrant and bizarre tale, expertly told through images that is impossible not to admire for its 'show don’t tell' skills. It's sweet and crass, tender and revolting, with a mischievous and fun glint in its eye"
Oaxaca FilmFest

“I really enjoyed it… funny, dark, ironic, unsettling and very British... a film that makes you think”
John Robb, author & cultural commentator, Louder Than War magazine

  • Keir Black
    Director
    Men Only (2023); I Want for Nothing (2022); The Sound of the Crowd (2022); Game Over: The Life of Keith Fairway (2017); Sucker (2017)
  • Keir Black
    Writer
  • Gem Seddon
    Producer
  • Keir Black
    Producer
  • Louise Mardenborough
    Key Cast
    "Daisy"
    Line of Duty; Hustle; Silent Witness; Toast; Tormented; God on Trial
  • Catherine Manford
    Key Cast
    "Jill"
    Men Only
  • Eileen Davies
    Key Cast
    "Belgian Bun"
    High Rise; The Theory of Everything; Sightseers
  • Gillian Raegarth
    Key Cast
    "Jaffa Cakes"
  • Gavin Repton
    Cinematographer
  • Jamie Parry
    Colorist
    Inside Number 9; Dodger; Cucumber; Paranoid; Scott & Bailey; Happy Valley
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    400 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    HD 1080p
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Manchester International Short Film Festival
    Manchester
    United Kingdom
    The film was invited to screen in a special 10 minute preview version at the Manchester International Short Film Festival
  • Short Fuse Film Birmingham
    Birmingham
    United Kingdom
    First screening of full-length version
    Official Selection
  • Manc Short Film Festival 2024
    Manchester
    United Kingdom
    Runner up
  • Kino Shorts
    Manchester
    United Kingdom
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Gonella Productions
    Distributor
    Country: France
    Rights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Hotel, Airline, Ship, Free TV, Paid TV
Director Biography - Keir Black

Keir Black was born in Moss Side, Manchester; a lifelong and boundless enthusiasm for movies led him to pursue the dream of becoming a filmmaker, and to attend filmschool (the NMS). He’s directed music promos, shorts and TV pilots for companies including Chrysalis TV, Animated Storyboards Ltd., UK Film Council, Triffic Films, Kinofilm and Colour The Clouds. He’s also worked as screenwriter in short and feature form.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The ironies of life have always been a point of fascination for me.

Everyone yearns for something, but when a long-desired dream becomes reality, with all the complications that entails, is the wish realised always all it was cracked up to be?

Daisy's story - of a friendship so intensely craved, then so joyfully attained, but then so ruthlessly self-sabotaged - is indicative of the many (frankly ridiculous) contradictions frequently at work within the human psyche; in such mental incongruities, I see a rich vein of wry humour.

This became the engine for much of I Want for Nothing's story, tone and style. I felt this approach could result in something unexpected and quite different to many short films.

To represent the overpowering intensity and momentum of want, I aimed for a sensibility that was heightened, arch, and some distance from full-blown naturalism.

Further to this, I wanted a toweringly emotional and symphonic original score, but to apply that music throughout the film with layers of subversive irony - something I consider highly appropriate to this film's atypical (or downright weird) viewpoint and concerns.