Private Project

Blown It

Kevin is obsessed with the world’s most hated instrument: the ghastly Kazoo! After his refusal to "grow up" costs him his relationship with Lilah, Kevin must go on a journey of self-discovery to see if he can kick this Kazoo addiction, or has he blown it?

A bittersweet, surrealist comedy about the noise we make to keep from being heard.

  • Jess Curtis
    Director
  • Andrew Siguencia
    Writer
  • Nea-Jude Ioannou
    Producer
  • Shehroze Khan
    Producer
    Gangs of London (2nd Unit Director)
  • Gabriella Lafor
    Producer
  • Viraj Juneja
    Key Cast
    "Kevin"
    Get Duked, Little English, Vera
  • Ellie Bindman
    Key Cast
    "Lilah"
    Doctors, Casualty, Grantchester
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Drama, Surrealism
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 40 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 31, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Jess Curtis

Jess Curtis is a London-based film director and graduate of the London Screen Academy, with experience working on features, commercials, and short films across a range of crew roles. She trained at Pinewood Studios and NFTS through the Disney Crew Academy. She most recently brought Fallen Media's 15 Second Film to London as its first global show - a street-based series in which strangers are invited to direct their own 15-second films, which Jess directs and hosts across London. Her work is driven by a curiosity to uncover real emotion in unexpected places, aiming to transport audiences and offer different perspectives, balancing grounded, character-led storytelling with a playful sense of humour. Blown It, her most recent narrative short, sits at the heart of that - a comedy-romance-drama about a man whose kazoo obsession quietly unravels his relationship, asking how something so absurd can hold something so quietly devastating.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I've always been fascinated by the ways people avoid saying what they really mean, and how we choose to communicate instead. The kazoo felt like a perfect expression of this break down of communication: loud, awkward, and impossible to ignore, yet ultimately saying nothing at all.

When I first read the script for Blown It, I was immediately drawn to the kazoo. It carries a sense of childhood and playfulness, making it funny almost instantly, but in this story it becomes something entirely different. The kazoo turns into a barrier, preventing a man from communicating and ultimately costing him meaningful connections.

I wanted to give the audience agency in how they experience this story. Some will laugh at Kevin - the absurdity of his choices and the situations the kazoo leads him to. Others may notice something quieter: the tragic lengths a person will go to in order to avoid their own feelings.

Rather than forcing the humour, I wanted to allow it to emerge naturally from the friction of Kevins reality. The reactions the kazoo provokes, and the spaces where something real should be said but isn’t - filled with that grating sound instead. Kevin is never the "joke" but instead he is someone the audience can recognise as a person trying, and failing, to connect.

From the very start, the challenge was allowing the audience in on the world of a character who never truly speaks, in a world where everyone else does. Visually, this meant staying close to Kevin - tight frames, lingering in his personal space, and letting silence, sound effects and reactions carry the story.

Blown It was made with London Screen Academy alumni in partnership with Fully Focused Productions, giving us the chance to work as a crew, learning from mentors and each other. The trust and creativity on set allowed us to experiment, take risks, and grow together as a crew.

Blown It was made with a crew composed entirely of London Screen Academy alumni, in partnership with Fully Focused Productions. Winning a creative pitch to direct gave me the chance to join a team of emerging filmmakers who are also LSA alumni, including Nea-Jude, who pitched for producer, and Andrew Siguencia, the writer behind the script. Working together as a crew, we learned from mentors, supported each other, and embraced the trust and creativity on set to experiment, take risks, and grow together.

This project reflects my interest in stories where the surface and the underneath don’t quite match, like how a kazoo can be both the funniest and the saddest thing in the room. It’s a theme I’m excited to keep exploring as a filmmaker.