Frequency

Set in a small town in the early 2000s, one night a lonely young girl develops a dangerous friendship with a mysterious voice coming through her toy walkie-talkie.

  • Zsófia Bujáki
    Director
    The Callback
  • Zsófia Bujáki
    Writer
    The Callback
  • Peter Andras
    Producer
    The Callback, The Apocalypse Box
  • Lusia Oates
    Producer
    Turmoil
  • Yuka Nakazawa
    Director of Photography
    The Callback
  • Josh Hughes
    Camera Operator
    The Apocalypse Box
  • Tom Dolega
    Gaffer
    The Callback
  • Viki Kovacs
    1st AC
  • Elias Highsmith
    Head of Sound
    The Callback, The Apocalypse Box
  • Adam Wilson
    Editor & Colourist
    The Callback, The Apocalypse Box
  • Keeley-Jo Jupp
    Key Cast
    "Julie"
    Hard & Soft, Viewfinder, The Witch Hunters are Coming, The Rapture
  • Lottie Bryan
    Key Cast
    "Riley"
  • David Sayers
    Key Cast
    "Harry"
    The Shaman, Misanthropos or (The Life of Timon of Athens)
  • Jemima Newman
    Key Cast
    "Sarah"
    Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, A Guardians Thorn, Between Us
  • Paul Parker
    Key Cast
    "Robert"
    Enola Holmes, Once Upon a Time in London
  • Isla Grace Smith
    Key Cast
    "Mia"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, drama
  • Runtime:
    16 minutes 52 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 29, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    8,500 GBP
  • 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:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - Solent University
  • Solent University Film and TV Awards
    Southampton
    United Kingdom
    June 1, 2023
    Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay
Director Biography - Zsófia Bujáki

Zsófia Bujaki is a writer, director and actor, living in Southampton, England. She was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary where she started her carrier as an actor, in award-winning feature films and TV series. Zsófia is set to graduate from Solent University Southampton in 2023 where she is majoring in Directing. She has produced many short films and music videos in, and outside the university and is currently building her body of work as a director. Her directorial debut, "The Callback" won the Jury Prize at the Making Waves Film Festival and received many honourable mentions across the globe.

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Director Statement

I wrote the script a few years ago, based on a childhood memory of mine, which involved my friends, myself and a kids walkie-talkie. We were playing with it, just like the characters in the film. However, something innocent and playful almost turned into a perilous situation, causing trouble not only to us kids at the time, but for people around us as well, when we started talking to a stranger on the same channel, same frequency as our radio.
I have developed a deep interest with this “something almost happened” feeling, and I wanted to have a story that can captivate this essence.

"Frequency" at its very core is about emotional oppression and parental neglect and its effects on a child who is growing up. A topic which started thinking about after starting to notice the dramatic change in how early parents allow their kids to use technology nowadays, and how it’s so embedded now with kids’ everyday life.
Seeing how distant we have all became as humans from each other motivated me to write this story about a young kid, who desperately wants to connect.

I decided to set the film in the 2000s, because I feel that era contained much less technology and more freedom. It raised one of the last generations who did not come into direct contact with technology as much as today's kids do.
If even a completely innocent toy, like a walkie-talkie can get a child into trouble at a time to which everyone thinks back as a perfect era, then it is thought-provoking to know how vulnerable children are now, when they are able to use a phone before they are even able to talk.
In the film, trouble happens very suddenly, which is caused by years of emotional suppression and neglect.
Seeing how distant we have all became as humans from each other motivated me to write this story about a young kid, who desperately wants to connect.

I hope "Frequency" will provoke conversations and will invite audiences to see deeply into the topics we touch on.