Private Project

nic_unextinct

A solar punk fashion graduate is on a verge of a career break, when some bad news arrive from home that their childhood pet horse will be put down. Suddenly they're forced to navigate future opportunities while battling with the dark memories of their past.

  • Vera Graziadei
    Director
    In the Woods With A Dead Dog, A Map of the World, The Silence of I Am
  • Vera Graziadei
    Writer
    In the Woods With A Dead Dog, A Map of the World, The Silence of I Am
  • Vera Graziadei
    Producer
    The Book of Vision, In the Woods With A Dead Dog, A Map of the World, The Silence of I Am, White Light
  • Alisa Tritenko
    Producer
    Magdelene Reading, Karavai, Karavai, Make a Wish, Ethereal Living
  • Nic Locke
    Key Cast
    "Nic"
  • Hsien Yu Niu
    Cinematographer
    Heathens, Education, Demon, The Interrogation
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    July 8, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Black Magic 4K RAW
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New York Shorts International Film Festival 2022
    New York
    United States
    October 31, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Trans Stellar Film Festival 2022
    Detroit
    United States
    November 26, 2022
    Official Selection
  • British Urban Film Festival 2022
    London
    United Kingdom
    November 30, 2022
    World Premiere
Director Biography - Vera Graziadei

Vera Graziadei is an actor, writer, director, producer and poet. A graduate of London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), she's worked as an actor in feature films, TV, theatre and radio, in the UK and internationally since 2006. She's honed her craft alongside talents like Olivia Coleman, Minnie Driver, James Corden, Steve Coogan, Michael Winterbottom, Alfonso Cuaron and many others. She's the founder of Luminous Arts Productions and recently co-produced and acted in The Book of Vision, starring Charles Dance and Lotte Verbeek and executively produced by Terrence Malick. The film opened the Venice Film Festival's Critics Week and Warsaw International Film Festival and is now going around the festival circuit while being released internationally as well as in the UK. She's the writer and director of several award-winning films: a mini short A Map of the World, poetry film The Silence of I Am and a dark comedy In The Woods with a Dead Dog, based on Michel Faber's story. Vera is a full voting BAFTA member and a registered active BIFA voter. www.veragraziadei.art

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Director Statement

I am hugely inspired by Chloè Zhao and also love working with non-actors, so I'm particularly interested in docudramas as a genre: I'm excited to tell real stories (with fictional elements), love the challenge of directing real people to play fictionalised versions of themselves and finally enjoy the authenticity and poignancy of shooting in real settings.

I've met Nic when I was doing a research for a coming-of-age feature I've written. I was deeply impacted by their story and shocked that no one else knew about it. Then I've met several other women who were also hiding their experiences of being abused or raped as children. Myself - a statutory rape survivor, I knew too well how difficult it is to admit what really happened.

After many conversations and meetings with Nic, both of us felt strongly that the taboo, which still surrounds CSA (childhood sexual abuse) needs to be dissolved further. I've proposed to Nic to tell their story in a short cinematic form and they were incredibly brave to not only take on the challenge of acting for the first time, but also to finally share what happened to them with the wider world.

We hope our film will encourage other survivors to come forward with their own stories and will increase general awareness of the link between trauma and erratic behaviours and addictions, as well as how past traumas subconsciously inform what we want to do in life.

We are also proud that our film is a mini historical document, providing a glimpse into the real underground queer techno scene of London, as well as the alternative community of Costa del Tottenham.