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The Art of Sweeping Under the Rug

An aspiring performer, a shut-in techie, a vapid couple, drunk punks, reality tv, spying on your neighbors, mysterious vhs tapes, Mini Frozen Quiches... and all the while, in the background world, something even more sinister is being allowed to happen. The Art Of Sweeping Under The Rug presents a trilogy of vignettes focusing on societal apathy, male inaction, and general indifference towards the commodification of, over-sexualization of, and violence against women.

  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Director
  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Writer
  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Producer
  • Justin Ramer
    Producer
  • JJ House
    Producer
  • Danielle Ring
    Producer
  • Brady Dowad
    Key Cast
    "Ben"
  • Sawyer Pierce
    Key Cast
    "Eli"
  • Tatu Sinisalo
    Key Cast
    "Phillip"
  • Kelly Tappan
    Key Cast
    "Cassia"
  • Rylie Decocq
    Key Cast
    "Simon"
  • Donia Rogia
    Key Cast
    "Iris"
  • Michael Ursu
    Key Cast
    "Levi"
  • Claire Milligan
    Key Cast
    "Lily Price"
  • Mark Stancato
    Key Cast
    "Uncle Jack"
  • Jim McSorley
    Key Cast
    "Police Officer"
  • Nate Ramer
    Music
  • Danielle Ring
    Casting
  • Jeff Cendejas
    Production Sound Mixer
  • Nic Addante
    1st Assisstant Director
  • Anthony Blotti
    2nd Assisstant Director
  • Andre Shahjanian
    Production Design
  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Production Design
  • Jedd Caballero
    Production Design
  • Moises Barragan
    Production Design
  • James Gonzales
    Assistant Camera Operators
  • Bill Moranon
    Assistant Camera Operators
  • Mallory Rogers
    Assistant Camera Operators
  • Charlie Ozburn
    Gaffer
  • Alex Waxenbaum
    Key Grips
  • Jedd Caballero
    Key Grips
  • Kaleigh Schoen
    Grips
  • Evan Farnsworth
    Grips
  • Michelle Magana
    Hair and Makeup
  • Aubree Rockwell
    Hair and Makeup
  • Jamie Gasper
    Hair and Makeup
  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Editor
  • Jared Fellows
    Dialogue Editing
  • Zachary Randolph Danek
    Sound Design
  • Christina Wen
    Sound Design
  • Mike Gallagher
    Sound Design
  • Christina Wen
    Re-Recording Sound Mixers
  • Mike Gallagher
    Re-Recording Sound Mixers
  • Connor Burns
    Colorist
  • Chris Finn
    VFX
  • Justin Ramer
    Location Managers
  • Vanessa Graddick
    Location Managers
  • Eric Charbonnel
    Location Managers
  • Bill Moranon
    Location Managers
  • Ani Demirchyan
    Location Managers
  • Thomas Zayas
    Additional Boom Operator
  • Anthony Blotti
    Post PA
  • Scott Hyde
    Post PA
  • Eric Kimura
    Production Assisstants
  • Nicole Battiste
    Production Assisstants
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Thriller, Drama
  • Runtime:
    32 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    November 20, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital, VHS
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Zachary Randolph Danek

Zachary Randolph Danek grew up in Upstate New York. He is the son of a lawyer and a sculptor, both film buffs themselves. Growing up in a house with a closet full of DVDs, he watched everything he could get his hands on. He began making films in high school as part of a video class, and eventually started running the school’s Broadcast club. He then attended Syracuse University, studying in both the Visual and Performing Arts school, and the Newhouse School of Communications, graduating with a degree in Television, Radio and Film. Since then, he has been working in Los Angeles in Production.

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Director Statement

This film has been a long time coming. Since founding Arthauz Productions in March 2018, this has been my first major goal, and milestone for the company. I sent the first draft to my producer Justin in early 2019, and I have been trying to get the ball rolling ever since. We, like most of the world, spent all of 2020 saying “maybe in the next few months,” and here we are finally. Oxymoronically, this is quite a long short-film at over a half hour, and depending on how this process goes, I may end up expanding this concept into a feature film.

I once lived in an apartment, where my bedroom wall was the thin border between my space, and the apartment of the couple next door. A few times I heard them yelling at each other and I questioned whether or not I should call the police. They were yelling, but it didn’t sound like anyone was being hurt. Despite this, was I a bad neighbor, or citizen for not intervening? Or was it more appropriate for me to mind my own business? From the perspective of a different window in the same apartment, a friend of mine once pointed out to me that you could see into another woman’s living room from mine, and at the time she was vacuuming naked. I felt very unsettled being able to see this act, and wondered if anyone else was also watching from another apartment or the street, or if she had ever watched me through my window inversely.

I think over the last several years, it became evident to me that people seemed to care less about others, there was a particular cruelty and lack of empathy I was feeling coming from the culture. In general, from my perspective, people are pretty selfish and self-obsessed, but I felt like the disregard for the health, safety and well-being of others had reached an all-time high. There is a disregard for human life that I find sociologically disturbing. Every time there is a mass shooting people dig into their political positions and copy-paste statements of concern and talk about “starting a conversation” rather than taking any form of political, legal, or social action and those are fellow countrymen and women. This disregard only becomes stronger when discussing affairs outside of one’s own country, the disregard feels even more pervasive in the debates surrounding Syrian, Yemeni, Mexican, Guatemalan, Hondouran, and now Afghani refugees. Now, after starting this project, a global pandemic where some deny it’s legitimacy, others spread conspiracy theories about the science and medical solutions. People even attempt to debate the acceptable amount of child deaths whether it be from sickness or gun violence. Despite all of this, many people have a quite frankly - gross attitude regarding true crime and real-life violence. Stories of real-life murdered women and children have become mainstream entertainment from Netflix to wherever you get your podcasts. Their real deaths have literally been made into a product or commodity for entertainment value. This content is often even discussed as if they were no different from fictional stories, with no real regard for the humanity of the person or people who died. It’s a juicy story with murder and intrigue, and better yet, it doesn’t come with some kind of “based on a true story” phony opening that the audience knows is probably 20% true.

The stories here focus thematically on societal apathy, male inaction, and general indifference towards the commodification of, over-sexualization of, and violence against women. Recently we have seen a major cultural awakening surrounding how we treat half our population, and the constant abuse that people endured in our society on a daily basis. Young women deemed not old enough to drink a beer, or buy a lottery ticket are deemed old enough, and in many cases are financially encouraged by others to post pornographic images or videos of themselves. Revenge porn and underage pornography run rampant on the internet as well, even on some of the biggest sites on the internet. In many States revenge porn is still not illegal.

I find myself easily disturbed, or particularly sensitive to these topics, and I am somewhat cynical about how much people care to change. I think ultimately people are somewhat lazy and fall back into what is comfortable or simple, rather than what is the most ethical or “morally right”. I think often people don’t possess the self-awareness or aren’t conscious enough of what they’re doing or how they’re behaving as a citizen, partner, friend, etc. I also think many people do not possess the strength of integrity to do what is right in a situation that may be difficult or uncomfortable, only furthering the lack of intervention, and allowing the trauma to continue.

As I said this film focuses heavily on male inaction to the trauma of women, and people allowing things to take place around them without intervening. I feel it is my duty as a man, a citizen, and an artist to produce works that speak to these issues I see in our culture, and make content that addresses these societal ills and asks people to look at themselves and their actions or inactions and see how they impact others.