Personal Effects

After her brother's death, Katie meets with his ex-girlfriend to solve a mystery: the personalised mix CD he left her.

  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 48 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 8, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    9,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • London Short Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    January 28, 2023
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography

Will is a writer-director based in London. His shorts have played at BAFTA-qualifying festivals including Aesthetica, London Short Film Festival, PÖFF Shorts, and Leeds International Film Festival. He was awarded the BFI Future Film Award for Fiction in 2015, selected as a Hospital Club Emerging Creative in 2017, and a member of BAFTA Crew 2017- 2021.

He’s also made essay films for the British Film Institute and Little White Lies, and charity films for the Royal Opera House. Outside of filmmaking, he’s programmed for the Chronic Youth Festival (Barbican) and Sheffield Doc/Fest, devised and delivered workshops for the BFI, and spoken on panels for Into Film.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

In the aftermath of a death in the family, a huge task sprawls out in front of you: how do you remember someone who isn't there anymore?

In Personal Effects, Katie, a young woman grappling with grief, sets out to answer that question. She meets with her late brother's ex-girlfriend Sophie to find the meaning behind a personalised mix CD he left her. Drawing on contemporary drama influences like Joanna Hogg and Hirokazu Koreeda, the film focuses on one conversation between two women, while also spinning out into fractured personal recollections and a traumatic episode in the past.

The film is closely influenced by the death of my brother in 2019. In just a few months, he went from a constant presence in my life to a constant absence. Alongside from the trauma of his death, and the disconnection I felt from others who didn't share in that grief, there was something unexpectedly joyous: the process of meeting with his friends while planning remembrance events. Together, we began the work of understanding what legacy he would leave behind, and how we would remember him. That process is dramatised in Personal Effects.