Script File

HIGHRISE

Mary Miller, once a hardworking and joyful woman, is desperate to confront her past trauma as she returns to the Highrise Jazz Lounge. There, she begins to question her morals, and soon her reality, as she confronts the man who ruined her life.

  • Mattia Passaro
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Student, Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    80
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Hollywood International Indie Screenplay Awards
    Hollywood, Los Angeles CA
    October 15, 2024
    Official Selection
  • Milan Independent Awards
    Milan, Lombardia
    November 1, 2024
    Best First Time Screenwriter
  • Best script Awards - London
    London
    January 13, 2025
    Finalist
  • 4theatre Selection

    December 1, 2024
    Thriller Screenplay
  • Bestlov Film Festival

    December 1, 2024
    Finalist for Unproduced Script
  • Rome Prisma Film Awards
    Cinema Farnese, Roma
    March 7, 2025
    Official Selection
Writer Biography - Mattia Passaro

My name is Mattia Passaro, I'm an England based writer from Italy, who is currently studying for an MA in writing for script and screen at Falmouth University.

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Writer Statement

Highrise is my first feature script, so many comments made here may seem naive, but it's definitely not the first script I've written. I remember during the first lockdown, me and my father used to sit down every night and watch a different film. Some where good, some where excellent, and some where, well...Not so good. But I remember that the good movies, the truly excellent ones, they managed to pull me in and never let me go. That's what I hope to do whenever I write, and god knows I'll have a lot of chances, I'm only getting started.

The idea of Highrise was born from the emotions that where evoked when I saw Edward Hoppers "Nighthawks". The alienation, solitude and intimacy that the painting radiated to me a story that was waiting to be told. The beauty of Hoppers painting, however, is that we do not know what is happening in behind these closed but exposed doors.

HIGHRISE is my interpretation.

Blending thriller and drama, with small strokes of horror, it's a project that twists, turns and tangles it's characters in a web of deception, greed and revenge.