Private Project

Parents Together Forever

Remember Lockdown? Remember being stuck at home with your little darlings 24/7? Remember suddenly being expected to have a complete working knowledge of the National Curriculum, whilst at the same time producing three square meals a day, mastering Zoom work calls, walking the dog, avoiding catching/spreading Covid, not falling down a conspiracy theory well, and (pause for breath) still finding time to go to the toilet?

Remember it?! Of course you do. Parents Together Forever is a glimpse back into the heady, halcyon days of the first months of the pandemic when none of us knew what we were doing but were all supposed to be holding it together, ideally without the help of prescription drugs and/or a vat of wine at breakfast.

Is it too soon to laugh about the horror of homeschooling? We don’t think so.

  • Keith Farrell
    Director
    Another Happy Ever After, Girl Alone, Rabbit Punch, Moment of Grace
  • Amy Rich
    Writer
    Car Keys
  • Margot Douglas
    Producer
    Another Happy Ever After, Scrum, The Third Hand
  • Frances Kingdon
    Key Cast
    "Rita"
    Law & Order UK, Bonkers, Footballer's Wives Overtime
  • Sarah England
    Key Cast
    "Lydia "
    Lead Belly, Pavement, Council Culture, Scott & Bailey
  • Alicia McKenzie
    Key Cast
    "Claire"
    For Love
  • Dan Carey
    Key Cast
    "Steve"
    Gold, Victoria, Fred and Rose
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Comedy, Lockdown, Covid
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 48 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 19, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    4,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Keith Farrell

Keith Farrell is a multi-award winning, four time IFTA nominated director (I know four times without a win!). He began his career as a producer at Granada TV before moving into writing and directing documentaries series and one offs for broadcasters in the UK, Ireland and the US. In recent years he has moved into scripted drama; his first narrative short film, "Jubilee Nurse" won the Consulate Award at the Chicago Irish Film Festival and a Remi for Best Historical Short at WorldFest in Houston. His recent short films "Rabbit Punch" won best short film at Omaha Film Festival (a moviemaker 50 festival) and best North West short at the BAFTA qualifying Bolton Film Festival. His 2019 short film Girl Alone premiered in OSCAR qualifying competition at the 31st Galway Film Fleadh and won multiple awards at short film festivals. His last short film Another Happy Ever After, also premiered in Oscar competition at 33rd Galway Fleadh and was recently been selected for a number of BAFTA qualifying festival. Parents Together Forever is Keith’s first venture into scripted comedy, he is not known for his sense of humour so the credit for all the laughs should go to Amy Rich the screenwriter!

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Director Statement

Amy wrote Parents Together Forever when the world as we knew it had just taken a crazy, weird turn on its axis, when bats were the devil’s work, bleach was a cure-all, and people would rather risk getting run over by a car than pass you on the pavement. Opinions were everywhere but factual information was scarce and leaving the house meant wading your way through it all. With Parents Together Forever, Amy wanted to highlight the madness and chaos of what we were going through, and how even when we were all faced with exactly the same situation, we all dealt with things so differently. Despite the incredibly trying circumstances of the pandemic, joy and humour can still be found in all of our differences as we jostle along together just trying to get to bedtime.

And now the serious stuff… Filming the short during the first lockdown, brought it's own challenges. For the producer and director the main priority was making sure cast and crew were able to do their jobs safely. Although the story primarily plays out through phone and computer screens, we did not want to film using a computer or phone camera as it would limit our ability to "leave" the world of the story when we needed to. Our cinematographer Luis Zarzo came up with the idea of using a DSLR with a remote operating system. This allowed us to place the camera close to the actors but operate at a safe distance. It also allowed the actors to pick the camera up and move it as if they were moving a laptop or phone. Thus we had a "Zoom" film that was not shot on Zoom.