Quinn

Quinn receives a poem on why things ended

  • Harleigh McCullum
    Director
  • Harleigh McCullum
    Writer
  • David Matthew Johnson
    Producer
    Ode to the Whale of Christ
  • Harleigh McCullum
    Key Cast
    "Quinn "
    Ode to the Whale of Christ
  • David Matthew Johnson
    Editor
    Ode to the Whale of Christ
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Experimental, Poem, Queer
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 12 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Harleigh McCullum

Harleigh McCullum is an actor, filmmaker, artist, below average bowler, occasional photographer, and a film festival judge for the Octopus Marquee Independent Film Festival. He can often be found taking walks in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area finding inspiration anywhere he can. He has been working diligently with his fellow cinema cohorts for the last few years making films and running a film festival. He is also getting ready for OMIFF’s 2 nd season coming up this fall. In addition, he has been nominated for an Irene Ryan Acting Award for his work in the stage production of John Hughes Wrote my Diary in 2021. In his free time, he can be found trying to perfect his best Gollum. Besides that, spending time with his son, friends, and the best tuxedo cat a
human could ask for.

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Director Statement

I directed this passion project, Quinn, to fill in the gaps of the ‘why’ in an important relationship that ended and left me broken, confused, and questioning everything. The main character, Quinn, goes through all those emotions in this visually stunning and poetic tale that I feel that everyone can relate to. Very quickly you can see that he is dealing with something and then comes home to an empty place, only left with a letter on the table and a note left on the fridge that sums up what this other person was feeling towards Quinn. Through everything I was dealing with in my personal life, which everyone deals with after a breakup, I was inspired to create something that would help me visually understand it all.

From what this project started at, it changed drastically when I shared my script and vision with my best friend and cinema collaborator. He helped me realize That this piece could be something much bigger than I realized. So, I went back, rewrote the script many times, but something did not feel right and that’s when I concluded that it didn’t need to be in a formal script format, and that this was something for me to have some sort of closure. With that thought in mind, I decided to make it more into a poem/love letter, but sadder, and with a pinch of hope.

Truly by writing this, having long talks with a collaborator in the field and whom I trust, and filming the scenes from beginning to end, I ended up with something I never thought I would get. I got peace, love for myself, a sense of self-worth, self-discovery, and that closure I was looking for. Even if it was my own. This film, in that regard, is so special to me and the outcome is better than I ever thought. With that I’m so excited for you to see this and I hope that you’ll be able to relate to this in your own way.