Experiencing Interruptions?

Small Talk

Being an only child to a single mother, 13-year-old David attempts to sabotage his mother's first date.

13-year-old David's close relationship to his mum Amanda becomes threatened in his eyes when her new date Lloyd arrives at the house. Whilst Amanda gets ready, David begins to interrogate Lloyd. David comes up with a series of lies about his mother in the hopes of veering Lloyd's interest away from her. Things escalate when David hits a nerve.

  • Gabrielle Wright
    Director
  • Gabrielle Wright
    Writer
  • Isabella Giommarelli
    Writer
  • Isabella Giommarelli
    Producer
  • Will Stretton
    Key Cast
  • Ben Plummer
    Key Cast
  • Kate Watson
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    comedy
  • Runtime:
    6 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 18, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    185 NZD
  • Country of Origin:
    New Zealand
  • Country of Filming:
    New Zealand
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    Yes
Director Biography - Gabrielle Wright

Gabrielle describes “quirky, humorous, heartfelt and great cinematography” as the perfect blend of a great film. The 21-year-old New Zealander is an aspiring filmmaker, bursting with excitement to begin her creative journey. Gabrielle studied a Bachelor of Communication Studies at the Auckland University of Technology, majoring in Television and Screen Production. Gabrielle had the opportunity to write and direct Small Talk in her final year of study, a short film that touches on the difficulties a child can have living with a single parent, and adjusting to new relationships. This project allowed Gabrielle to value the creative freedom that comes with being a writer-director, and the platform it provided for her personal leadership qualities. Small Talk gave Gabrielle an incredible insight into the various elements within filmmaking, which underlined the importance of building a passionate team. Gabrielle hopes to continue writing and directing films that are visually powerful and offer a happy escape.

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Director Statement

Welcoming new people into your life can be an overwhelming experience. For a child, it can feel like their whole world is falling apart. The difficulties of seeing a parent dating again can bring up a myriad of feelings and emotions; hurt, insecurity, abandonment, vulnerability, jealousy and betrayal.

When creating the character David, we had to keep in mind that he was a child experiencing a dramatic shift in his life. The decision to make the character mischievous was to reflect his way of coping.

For a parent, it can be daunting to re-enter the dating world after putting your children first for so long. In our film, Amanda avoids the awkward conversation addressing her date, making it difficult for David to process this change.

Meeting the child of a potential partner can be an awkward scenario (especially if they are a snarky teenager!). So with Lloyd we wanted to bring an aspect of comedy to his interactions through his deep love for the Beatles.

Our hope is that audiences will appreciate our light-hearted take on an experience that a lot of people can relate to. We identify with the themes our film presents, and is something that is important to us.