Angel Song

A young woman seeks to rid herself of apathy by connecting with a former imaginary friend.

  • Lilian Sumner
    Director
  • Lilian Sumner
    Writer
  • Niamh Peren
    Producer
  • Tumi Modiba
    Colorist
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Lilian Sumner

Lilian Sumner is a New York City based New Zealander. Lilian wrote and directed short film LUCAN ASKS WHY which Gucci funded and premiered in New York. The film stars Coco Gordon-Moore and 10-year- old Lilac Cianciolo and is edited by Academy award-winner John Gilbert. LOVE Magazine called the film “A powerful directorial debut”. In 2021, VIVA published Lilian’s HOW FAT THE BEES ARE, an essay about the nature of coming home. She directed ASTRONAUT, a music video for cult Australian artist Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders which premiered on RAGE in 2021. She has a short film in pre-production with Zoe Bleu Arquette. Lilian is the writer and director of feature I SCARED THE TREE AND THE TREE SCARED ME, currently in pre-production with Poignant Pictures.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Angel Song came to me when I had just moved into a new apartment and was spending a lot of time alone. Sensations of childhood memory came up - that of being in communication with inanimate objects, something brought me back to the rich world of imagination and all that entertained and intrigued me there. As a child I liked to fancy that I could sit alone on my floor and go anywhere in the world. I grew up in a secular, non-religious home but I heard in a movie that if you were quiet enough, you might be able to hear angels singing. I was always fanciful and wanting to be convinced of things beyond the natural world. I would close my eyes and strain my ears, desperately trying to hear them.
I’ve always been interested in the void that religion fills, and how if we grow up with no religion, we so often still seek to surrender or to believe in something.
Humans tend to replace that need for belief with whatever it is they worship. Be it money, sex, success.Sunny, the lead character in Angel Song, is an adult when we meet her. She is lackluster, worshipping nothing, feeling nothing. She has just realized that she has been sleepwalking through her life. She tries to do regular things; she goes out to a bar with friends but suddenly it all seems completely absurd, disturbing even, to take part in the rituals of drinking and merry-making. Out bike riding with her boyfriend through he bustling streets of Manhattan, she can hear the flowing of water. She heeds the call and heads Upstate. In a forest by the river, the connection comes back. Sunny moves through the natural world, trying to reforge a friendship with whatever it is that she lost. And finally, she masochistically immerses herself in the icy waters of the Delaware River.