The Life of a Filmmaker

We want to make films, but life gets in the way. After an impassioned speech about existence, a bartender snaps back to reality.

  • Hasan Firat
    Director
    Ministry of Existence, Reality Is a Slap in the Face
  • Gordon Todd
    Director
  • Gordon Todd
    Writer
    Ministry of Existence
  • Hasan Firat
    Writer
  • Antoaneta Ninovska
    Producer
  • Sam Rowlands
    Key Cast
    "The Actor"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    1 minute 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 21, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    0 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
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Projections One Year Anniversary
    Edinburgh
    United Kingdom
    December 7, 2025
    Edinburgh
    Kaleidoscope
Director Biography - Hasan Firat, Gordon Todd

Hasan Firat
He studied Radio, Television and Cinema in Turkey before completing an MA Film at Screen Academy Scotland, Edinburgh Napier University, where he specialised in directing. He has been working as a filmmaker for over nine years and has six short films and a TV Series pilot. Moreover, he has created a lot of social media content independently and worked on various projects as a first assistant director, camera assistant and runner. Recently, he has been working in The Shetland Times as a content marketing specialist.

Gordon Todd
He is a screenwriter based in Edinburgh. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Creative Writing with Spanish and International Study, during which he wrote and directed five short films and was awarded the Rose Cooper and Beatrice Colin prizes for a TV pilot script. He has since gained experience in script supervision and continuity, and holds an MA in Screenwriting from Screen Academy Scotland.
His work often blends tongue-in-cheek dialogue with serious subject matter, balancing a lightness of tone with darker themes.

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Director Statement

When I was taking my 13-hour shift as a bartender in Edinburgh, I got an email from Film Cult inviting me to be a part of a programme called Kaleidoscope. A programme gathers 1-minute short films from previous artists who were a part of their screening selection, Projections, with a prompt of “A vision of the state of cinema, film or arts in our current age through the eyes of you, a young artist”. Just an hour later, my writer Sam Cochrane sent me an outline of a short film idea titled “Last Orders,” which is about a bartender encountering the worst customers they can ever imagine. Sam wrote the whole outline when he was working at a bar as a bartender, and he was on a long shift at the same time as me in another bar around Stockbridge.

Then I told this story to my co-director Gordon Todd, who was also looking for a job at a bar by then.
The story was already there in front of our very eyes. This was our vision of the state of cinema as relatively young artists. We were sending each other ideas behind a bar with the hope that we could have a sustainable job in our field, and about our passion, when keeping a job, we need to afford food or not to be homeless.