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Distance (Short Film)

  • Richard Schertzer
    Director
    The Little Chapel
  • Richard Schertzer
    Writer
    Afrit
  • Montre Missouri
    Producer
  • Joy Jones
    Key Cast
    "Bonnie Whitmore"
    Augustus
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    thriller
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 13 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 29, 2020
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Richard Schertzer

Born in Washington D.C. in 1997, Richard has had a passion for film-making ever since he was young. He would make short choppy films when he was a child to challenge his film-making, which would eventually branch out into something bigger. Richard currently goes to school at Howard University making films for his thesis.

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Director Statement

‘Distance’ Director’s Note

Howard University Community

Howard University has been amazing to my work ethic and creativity and I have been so grateful to be surrounded by such talent and positive energy. I never would have thought that working in this space would give me so many opportunities.

On that note, I remember when I was shooting with Allen Mays for the black western ‘Natural State’ and we all shot in Rock Creek Park before COVID-19 locked us all in our homes.

While at home I had enough time to think long and hard about what I wanted to do with new characters and new plot lines. I made sure that, since this movie was filmed during the time of COVID-19, I wanted to incorporate something that was related to the virus and I had to make sure that my cast and crew were all safe.

The film takes place in an alternate Earth reality in the year 2149 where a young woman named Bonnie Whitmore is hiding out in the woods looking for her son Kyle, but later finds the help from a strange wandering ally.

Principal photography was on Halloween where the film was all shot in one day.

When I first conceived this idea, I knew that I wanted to create a science fiction-type world. I was always interested in fantasy worlds like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, and with that in mind, I had to use my imagination to think creatively about how I wanted this world to look and what I wanted from the visual effects department.

This project was something that I feared would go horribly wrong but the production went pretty smoothly.

Writer/Director/Editor
Richard Schertzer