Ambient Light
In 1885, a struggling mother in rural Texas must convince her reluctant but loving husband that, despite not having the money, the family must have their first and only photograph taken to preserve the memory of their baby son and young daughter before time runs out.
-
H.Cherdon BedfordWriter
-
Project Type:Screenplay, Short Script
-
Genres:Drama, Historical, Historical drama
-
Number of Pages:22
-
Country of Origin:United States
-
Language:English
-
First-time Screenwriter:Yes
-
Student Project:No
-
Golden Lion International Film FestivalWest Bengal, India
Winner - Best Short Screenplay -
New York International Screenplay AwardsNew York, NY
Finalist -
Austin Film FestivalAustin, TX
Second Rounder -
Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay ContestAtlanta, GA
Official Selection -
Austin Short Film FestivalAustin, TX
Official Selection -
Austin After Dark Film FestivalAustin, TX
Official Selection -
Phoenixville Film FestivalPhoenixville, PA
Official Selection -
Dubai International Cineverse Film FestivalDubai
Official Selection -
The Women’s Independent Film and Television FestivalBoston, MA
Official Selection
Austin based writer, director, producer, actor and artist H.Cherdon Bedford has been involved in numerous aspects of the visual, literary, performing and film arts since early childhood. In addition to narrative projects, H.Cherdon loves producing family travel content. Since 2008, she has run Austin Film Meet a support, networking and collaboration group for indie filmmakers and enjoys coaching other creatives when she's not being clobbered by kisses from her three little kids and five Cavalier spaniels.
About nine years ago, I stumbled upon the numerous post-mortem photographs from the 1800s, some even propped up, seated among family and made to look lifelike. When I showed friends, many reacted with disgust and it was then that I felt compelled to show them exactly why these people would’ve done something so odd today. I wanted to make people understand the desperation they must have felt just trying to capture whatever lasting memory they could before death stole their loved one away forever. In a time when countless people had little or no access to photography, a post-mortem photo may likely be the only image of that person, ever. I decided to write a screenplay.
Since then, I’ve realized that I’ve always been drawn to stories of loss, and how people experience and cope with grief in different ways. It’s natural since I myself was no stranger to the tragedies of life, which struck again in 2015, over a year after writing Ambient Light. After nearly nine glorious months of intense hope, utter joy and constant preparation, my first pregnancy resulted in a full-term stillborn. Not only did I spend three days in the hospital, mostly side-by-side with my new baby boy, but we also had a 3-hour house visitation and then placed our tiny dead newborn in the cremator ourselves.
Our experience was intimate, tender and much less removed than death often is in today’s veiled society. Ambient Light aims to question the distance we all now take for granted when experiencing nearby death.
After that, I became connected with the child loss communities and realized how much silent suffering is happening that no one talks about. Only 1 in 4 wanted pregnancies ends up in a live baby and many more people than we realize are experiencing this agony in isolation. That is when I knew I absolutely must finish this screenplay and why I now must make this movie.
I hope that my film Ambient Light may shed light on child loss and encourage more open discussion around the topic. Someone around you is likely grieving the loss of a child and needs your support.