Private Project

SoulGuard

A broken man who's wrestling with addiction, attempts to guard his soul against the Demonic influence of Asmos; questioning if he's worth more, or if it's too late for him to climb from his cycle of obsessions.

  • Lewis Smithard
    Director
  • Lewis Smithard
    Writer
  • Lewis Smithard
    Producer
  • Tristan Chadwick
    Key Cast
    "Daniel"
  • Nastya Idary
    Key Cast
    "Asmos"
  • Anne-Flavie Testelin
    Key Cast
    "Mary"
  • Kayleigh Pepper
    Key Cast
    "Mother & Boss"
  • Karl Pepper
    Key Cast
    "Father"
  • Project Type:
    Short, Student
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Religious, Thriller
  • Runtime:
    12 minutes 6 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 20, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    0 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, 25fps, 4096x1716
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University of Staffordshire
  • EVINCE25
    Stoke-Upon-Trent
    United Kingdom
    February 26, 2025
    Best Sound Design
  • Global Shorts
    Los Angeles
    United States
    May 5, 2025
    Award of Excellence
Director Biography - Lewis Smithard

Lewis grew up in the countryside until he moved with his father and brother to a small Staffordshire market town. Lewis was home schooled for a lot of his childhood, since his autism spectrum disorder and subsequent bullying made school difficult and unproductive. He was later accepted to the under-16s course at Stafford College which is where the recovery of his formal education began. It was on this course, where he found his passion for filmmaking, creating a short film named SCP: Descent into darkness with nothing but an action camera and a free, lightweight editing software.

At this moment he was 15 years old, and the course was disbanded. As all courses were now limited to the over-16s, this left him aimless for another year before he could return to college on the creative media production course... Arriving with nothing but a passion for the subject, this course's tutor took a chance on Lewis and allowed him entry.

Due to lack of educational experience, Lewis' work was lacklustre at the beginning, ending the Level 2 Course with a Merit Pass (Grade b and c). He progressed to the Level 3 creative media Production course and began trying his hardest. He often tested new techniques and technologies for hours before resting and helped in the creation of a small production crew named MiniStudioz. As a result of this effort, Lewis left the college course with one of the highest grades in his class, a Distinction*, Distinction*, Distinction (A*A* A). This was accompanied with an award for Outstanding Achievement 2021 and several short-film projects which he took part in creating. This was the true beginning of Lewis' career aspirations.

He went on to study at Manchester Metropolitan University the following year, traveling 3hours and 20minutes per day to partake in taught lessons. Although his ambition was strong, he realised that the travel time was reducing opportunities to network and partake in projects.

After some research he found that the closest university to him (Staffordshire University) was the best fit, focusing heavily on the technicalities of film production by building the knowledgebase of its students for production and distribution. Retaking his first year turned out to be the correct decision as he managed to participate in several filming projects throughout the year, travel to France for a film festival and have his first professional non-fiction project screened in Metz.

Lewis' latest project SoulGuard is his penultimate project within The University and he hopes to refine his skills to create a Company which produces high quality content.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When researching the topic of diabolic influence, I came across an interview transcript named "Levels of Spiritual Warfare", which described something quite remarkable. The demonic possession you see in blockbuster films and cult classics is not the full story. There are levels to the battles between good and evil; which include everyone at one point or another in their life.

Upon reading this, I remembered a group discussion where people opened up about their issues and there was a surprising amount of young men, struggling with pornography addiction. Not only did this consume their time but it also corroded self-perception, their ability to interact with people (especially people they were attracted to), and ultimately destroyed their personal prospects. I wanted to help solve this issue.

The thought was to fuse the Theological aspect of Diabolic Obsessions, with the addictive and compulsive nature of pornography addiction to show people that they aren't alone. This is a battle much bigger than just themselves which has been going on for a long time, and includes thousands of others. This could grow their perception of the addiction from fighting 'silly desires' to fighting against an entity, an idea, a spirit much more insidious and fastidious which - in turn - may give each audience member watching this film, the permission to perceive their situation as serious and worth fixing. To fight for better.