Private Project

In a House, At Night

On Halloween night, in a women’s shelter, 7-year-old Lynn sulks about missing her old house and dares to leave her mother’s bed in a tantrum, hurting her. Separated and alone, the young girl re-encounters fear as witness of the asleep victims' nightmares, while Alice, her mother, dangerously ponders about calling back her husband so to give Lynn her family again…

  • Tomás Ferreira
    Director
    Fate (Short Fiction); Away in Silence (Short Fiction)
  • Tomás Ferreira
    Writer
    Alfama is of the Singers (Short Doc), Winter (Short Fiction), The end of Summer (Short Fiction)
  • Tomás Ferreira
    Producer
  • Honor Davis-Pye
    Key Cast
    "Lynn"
    Decrypted (feature film), The Surgeon (Feature Film)
  • Moa Myerson
    Key Cast
    "Alice"
    Calon Lan (Short Film)
  • Sarah Louise-Tyler
    Supporting Cast
    Masterpiece (Feature Film), Expiry (Feature Film)
  • Tom Barker
    Director of Photography
    La Cha Cha (Feature Film), Don't Let them In (Feature Film)
  • Gerardo Pastor Ruiz
    Sound Editors
    Sebastian (Short Fiction), Good Morning or Buenos Días (Short fiction)
  • Tomás Ferreira
    Editor
    Entrudo (Short documentary), FATE (Short Fiction), Away in Silence (Short Fiction)
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    January 13, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    1,960 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    5K Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2:35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of South Wales
  • Soho London Independent Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 17, 2022
    UK Premiere
    Official Selection
  • London Lift-Off Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    December 5, 2022
    Official Selection
  • South Coast Film Festival
    Hastings
    United Kingdom
    August 12, 2023
    Best Newcomer
Director Biography - Tomás Ferreira

Graduate from Lisbon Theater and Film School (Screenwriting & Editing) and with a completed MA in Film Directing from the University of South Wales, Tomás is a Portuguese filmmaker who has been developing his writing skills and reflective process over different projects in order to best understand his storytelling voice before directing his own work, inclined to minimalist film making and thought provoking stories.

Recently, he has directed four shorts films. Among them, a 2020 documentary promoted by a renowned Portuguese film critic and a fiction drama, "Away in Silence" (2021), screened publicly at Cardiff Chapter Arts Center. He was also involved in aiding the writing development of a short film accepted for a creative supporting program at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

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Director Statement

Since an early age I was aware of this strange house at the end of my street. One night, as I passed by it with my father, I noticed its bared windows and high ragged walls surrounding it and yet a very innocent white and pink exterior. I remember seeing through a window the shadows of a mother and a daughter watching TV. I asked my father what the place was and he answered: a women’s shelter.

This image stayed with me, leading to "In a House, At Night" which invites the spectator to dive into an eerie horror atmosphere enveloping a very sensitive drama story. It’s a study of a mother-daughter bond stained by the shared memory of violence and a reflection of the shelter as a paradoxical place conveying both protection and imprisonment of the fears and anxieties bubbling inside its families.