Experiencing Interruptions?

Demon Box

After festival rejections, a director revises his intensely personal short film about trauma, suicide, and the Holocaust, and transforms it into a painful, blunt and funny dissection of the film and his life.

Ten years in the making.

*Please be advised that this film deals with themes of trauma and suicide.

  • Sean Wainsteim
    Director
    Lost for Words, Magic Mushrooms
  • Aurora de Peña
    Writer
  • Sean Wainsteim
    Writer
  • Simone Stock
    Producer
    Iris, Sonnet 22
  • Misha Skoric
    Producer
    Iris, RED
  • Sean Wainsteim
    Producer
    Lost for Words, Magic Mushrooms
  • Brendan Steacy
    Producer
    Stockholm, Still Mine, Alias Grace
  • Liam Hill
    Key Cast
    "Boy"
  • Michael Jordan
    Key Cast
    "Zaydie"
  • JJ Greenberg
    Key Cast
    "Teen"
  • Richard Cole
    Key Cast
    "Dad"
  • Vince Mayer
    Key Cast
    "Stormtrooper"
  • Michael Murkavitch
    Key Cast
    "Papa"
  • Amanda Pye
    Key Cast
    "Mama"
  • Aphra Willis
    Key Cast
    "Sister"
  • KayLi Lum
    Key Cast
    "Nurse"
  • Geoff Ashenhurst
    Editors
    Defendor, Code 8, Penny Dreadful, Altered Carbon
  • Sean Wainsteim
    Editors
    Lost for Words, Magic Mushrooms
  • Armen Bazarian
    Sound Design, Music & Mix
    White Night, Forgotten Man, Human Condition
  • Joshua Turpin
    Production Design
    My Soul to Take, The Christmas Spirit, Mother of All Shows
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    semi-autobiographical, magic-realism, drama, fantasy, documentary
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 14, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Arri LF, Super 8, Animation
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Tampere Film Festival
    Tampere
    Finland
    March 9, 2023
  • Salem Horror Fest
    Salem
    United States
    April 21, 2023
    Best Short Jury Award
  • Seattle Jewish Film Festival
    Seattle
    United States
    March 26, 2023
    Audience Choice Award Best Short
Director Biography - Sean Wainsteim

Filmmaker Sean Wainsteim is the survivor of one (1) plane crash and one (1) art school. For over twenty years, he's made commercials, television, music videos, documentaries, animation, robots and photography for Nickelodeon, Sony, Budweiser, Nike, The Rolling Stones, The History Channel, IFC and MTV2.

Sean is the proud recipient of grants from BravoFACT!, MuchFACT!, Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Arts Council, countless design awards and was MUCHMusic Video Awards’ Director of the Year.

In his personal projects, Sean often uses magic-realism to explore intersections between generational trauma and storytelling. Sean is currently in post production on ALTERATIONS, his first narrative feature film. Filmed in his grandfather's home, ALTERATIONS uses fairytale imagery and themes to explore his grandfather's journey from a war refugee to a sweatshop tailor.

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Director Statement

As a child, I listened as family members with Holocaust concentration camp numbers on their arms sipped tea and casually recounted unimaginable atrocities. Combined with the rise of Neo-Nazis in the 1980s, their stories of death and suffering planted seeds of fear and hopelessness. As a teen, those feelings grew until I decided I didn’t like who I was and took steps to stop myself from living.

Thankfully, I didn’t succeed. Since the birth of my son, I’ve wrestled with when and how to share stories from our family’s past. Stories that almost killed me, but also stories that make up a core part of who I am as a person and filmmaker. My hope with DEMON BOX is that by expressing and exploring my own struggles, my son will be better able to approach the weight of our history. Wrapped in a deceptive meta-genre package, this documentary/narrative hybrid film explores the generational impact of trauma from war, as well as mental health battles.

My grandfather passed away shortly after filming DEMON BOX. This film is for him and for my son.