Late
LATE is a coming-of-age drama about Maya, an adolescent school girl caught in limbo as she navigates the world in possession of a secret only she knows.
When Maya reluctantly refuses to sneak out to a local night club as planned, her best friend Tina questions why she has been acting strangely. Coming from a strict but loving single-parent family, much responsibility falls on Maya’s shoulders in the frequent absences of her mother, Julia, a hard-working nurse who does her best to provide for the family. As Julia leaves for a night shift, Maya spends the evening looking after her elderly grandmother and younger sister, Eva. But after Maya puts them to bed, something begins to weigh heavily on her mind.....
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Alexander Mansfield MartinezWriterExodus: Gods and Kings, Game of Thrones, The Martian, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
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Alexander Mansfield MartinezDirectorExodus: Gods and Kings, Game of Thrones, The Martian, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
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Archie PearchProducerDumbo, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Marriage Story, Cats, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3, 2003
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George TelferProducerWonder Woman, Transformers: The Last Knight, County Lines
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Fraser RiggProducerStar Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Rogue One, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Corazon, The Batman
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Alexander Mansfield MartinezProducerExodus: Gods and Kings, Game of Thrones, The Martian, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
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Nia TowleKey Cast"Maya"Rocketman, The Hollow, Persuasion
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Naima StevensonKey Cast"Julia"The Wives Did It, Doctors
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Lucia HamiltonKey Cast"Eva"
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Lucy JacksonKey Cast"Tina"
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Alibe ParsonsKey Cast"Granma"Catastrophie, Aliens, Doctor Who, Incendiary, Casualty
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Fraser RiggDirector of Photography
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Julie BucklandEditor
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Sashko Potter MicevskiSound Designer
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Matthew BenyayerComposer
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:15 minutes
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Completion Date:June 1, 2021
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Production Budget:20,000 GBP
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Country of Origin:United Kingdom
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Country of Filming:United Kingdom
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Shooting Format:Digital (Arri LF)
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Aspect Ratio:4:3
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
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INDIE-LINCS International Film FestivalLincoln
United Kingdom
February 19, 2022
Best UK Short - Winner, Best Actor - Nominated -
Bolton International Film FestivalBolton
United Kingdom
September 29, 2021
Official Selection -
Beeston Film FestivalNottingham
United Kingdom
March 30, 2022
Official Selection -
Poppy Jasper International Film FestivalMorgan Hill, CA
United States
April 6, 2022
Official Selection -
Fastnet Film FestivalCork
Ireland
May 26, 2022
Official Selection -
Little Wing Film FestivalLondon
United Kingdom
October 8, 2022
Official Selection
Alexander M. Martinez is a Spanish-Australian-British writer, director and producer. He was born in Australia and raised between the UK and Spain. He currently lives in London.
Whilst studying History at The University of Manchester, he shot a no-budget student feature CRASHCOURSE: ON THE STATE OF BEING (dir. Merlin Merton) which won a Silver Screen Award at the Nevada Film Festival 2012. After graduating, he went on to work in the camera department on commercials, TV and film productions including HBO's GAME OF THRONES, STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS and Sir Ridley Scott's EXODUS: GODS & KINGS and THE MARTIAN.
His debut short LATE won BEST UK SHORT at INDIE-LINCS International Film Festival 2022, as well as being nominated for BEST ACTOR (Nia Towle). The film is currently on the international festival circuit. His next project OCASO is a psychological drama short set in the desert of Almeria, Spain. It explores the memory and identity loss of an obsessive artist with Alzheimer's as he struggles to finish his final work of art; a life-size replica of his most cherished memory.
He is currently writing his debut feature and is a co-founder of film production company Devisio Pictures which is in-development on its first feature film alongside BBC Films.
Just before I started writing LATE, I was looking for a contained story that explored the inner world of a character who feels lost and at a crossroads in life. That was how I felt at the time and when a friend of mine unexpectedly got pregnant it got me thinking a lot about family, parenthood and all the pressure that comes with that. What also stood out to me from our conversations was the uncertainty and stigma around the subject.
We coast through life and every now and then these big moments come out of nowhere and you have to make a choice and everything changes. It made me wonder what I would do in that situation. And what about people even younger than me who are just barely out of childhood themselves? How do they deal with that on top of everything else that comes with growing up?
At first I was apprehensive about the subject matter but ideas and visuals kept coming to mind. I grew up in a single-parent family with strong female characters around me all the time so the dynamics of a family of women were familiar and interesting to me. What wasn’t and never will be familiar is the experience of being pregnant so the big challenge was trying to make sure I made something that felt honest and genuine in spite of that. And while on the surface “Late” is about unplanned pregnancy, it is really about Maya and her experience as a young person moving through this chaotic world and trying her best to hold it all together.
The pregnancy is never explicitly shown or talked about in the film, only inferred, to reflect the taboo nature of the subject matter and the stifled conversation around it. We committed to a stripped back approach to avoid being didactic and instead make a film about Maya’s world and what she is going through with a sensibility that hopefully makes the audience lean in and feel that too.