PRIMA

A chance collision between a woman and an agent on a mission leads her down a dangerous road.

  • James Iain Barber
    Director
  • Rolfe Klement
    Director
  • James Iain Barber
    Writer
  • Rolfe Klement
    Writer
  • Rolfe Klement
    Producer
  • James Iain Barber
    Producer
  • Emily Wyatt
    Key Cast
    "Ms White"
  • Paul Kitson
    Key Cast
    "Geiger"
  • John Guerassio
    Key Cast
    "Simon"
  • James Iain Barber
    Editor
  • Peter Nanasi
    Composer
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Drama
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 16, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 4K Raw
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.35:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - James Iain Barber, Rolfe Klement

JAMES IAIN BARBER born in South Africa, completed a BA in Film & Dramatic Art from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2004, where he won top awards for directing, editing and cinematography in 2003 and 2004, achieving the highest grade for the Film & TV course. He spent two years in university acting in many theatre productions (largely directed by Malcolm Purkey),and a further two years studying with Johannesburg’s Actor’s Centre under Dorothy Ann Gould. He considers these years formative in his passion for understanding the craft of acting on stage and screen. In 2002, he achieved his first broadcast with short film ‘Anniversary’ which screened in nationwide cinemas for the Quickies-short film festival.

In 2005, he attended NYU International Student Film Festival, and DP’ed an award-winning Vuka PSA Film in South Africa. He then spent a year in Osaka, Japan, before settling in London in 2008, where he has since chiefly worked with large ad agencies and brands as a freelance editor, colourist and DP. He also directs brand and corporate pieces for large agencies and music videos. His obsession with being truly multi-skilled feeds into his aspiration of directing more fiction in the future.

ROLFE KLEMENT started gymnastics at a young age training with the Bulgarian Olympic Male Junior squad before moving into ballet. He attended UCT Ballet School, and started dancing/choreographing local ballet, contemporary dance events.
Rolfe has danced professionally in Europe, the US and Asia and has taught weekly ballet, jazz and national dance classes. He has a regular slot at Pineapple dance in Covent Garden – and teaches
workshops in LA, Europe, Africa and Asia. His students include West End principles and ballet dancers. As a choreographer he has worked on stage, film and theatre. His clients include: Under Armour, BBC, SKY, Cadburys, APPLE, SONY, ISLAND RECORDS,
E&Y, Headmasters, MAC, DIOR, Imagine films, Ministry of Sound, BP, Debenhams, Sunseeker Yachts, Shell, PWC, HRM Crown Estate and London Fashion Week.

Rolfe runs a film production company Creativesunshine Films – working on music videos, commercials and films. He also advises strategy for advertising companies in the new digital age.

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Director Statement

“What is real, and what is fictional? From the characters' points of view?”

Prima evolved out of discussions between myself and my co-director, Rolfe. We had this great cast from a previous short he helmed, but I had this idea of challenging their range by exploring characters with more scope and higher stakes. We built the story with the alternative story structure, building the pivotal meeting scene between the two lead characters in the past and present, to provide context and danger behind the meeting. Of course a satisfactory conclusion to the latent danger was required too, so we spent a long time exploring possible branches of the story. As a writer/director, I've always been interested in solid, simple techniques to allow great acting to shine through. I'm also very interested in leading audiences into realising two possible outcomes or truths for characters are possible at the same time, and this is where most of our scripting choices evolved from.

We felt like it would be amazing to craft a story where the audience is a on the back-foot, almost like watching a memory of an unreliable narrator – never knowing what the truth truly is. This is why we included the interrogation scenes, and occasional voice-over from scenes in the 'main' storyline. We threw caution to the wind with the traditional narrative structure and included a small soliloquy, breaking the fourth wall to bring the audience behind the curtain. We understand we're skating on thin ice narratively, as we tread a fine line between audience confusion and the audience realising the main storyline is actually the reconstructed memories teased out of the interrogation. It's a film full of subtle hints to this fact, and is designed to provide the unexpected twist at the end, whilst rewarding the audience on a second viewing of the narrative complexity.

– James Iain Barber