In My Cave (UK)

A lonely bear in a cave longs to go outside and meet others but can’t because he knows that he might hurt them. One of his rabbit friends come to check on him, making him feel less alone.

In My Cave is a poem I wrote expressing the feeling of being stuck inside due to the Corona Virus situation. What can help a person to keep their hopes up in such a scary time as this is if they have someone near them to encourage them, so I want this film to remind people of those who are isolated and to encourage them to reach out to those in their community who are in isolation.

I live in a student house with housemates who don’t like to be filmed, so with no actors, I thought about how I could make a film by myself. I came up with the idea to make a film with no images, the black screen expresses the darkness of a cave and is used as a metaphor for the mind of a lonely person. Taking the theme, ‘Bear’, I thought about how I could relate it to this whole situation; bear noises kind of sound like a person with a sore throat and so I thought to use the bear as a metaphor for a person who has the corona virus. Those who have been asked to self-isolate might be feeling lonely. I saw children outside my bedroom window one day and saw they were running around so freely, I described them as “rabbits” in the film. I thought that perhaps someone with the virus may look out their window and be envious of those who are free to be outside like that. Again, taking inspiration from the situation, I thought about how important it is for us to ‘stay connected’ and to encourage each other in this time.

Hopefully after watching this film, people will feel inspired to reach out to those who are isolated and remind them that they are not alone in this.