Experiencing Interruptions?

The Washing Machine

Billy is a broke young man covered with debts and living in a shabby apartment. One day he discovers a magical washing machine in an old laundry room that is capable of generating money. This allows Billy to become rich and he buys all the things that he had always desired. This dream does not last for long though, and the machine stops making money pretty soon. He looses control and kicks the machine several times. At this point the Representative appears, a mysterious character that punishes Billy for his misbehavior: he is first frozen, and then he is sucked into the machine, where he is digested and turned into a cloud of smoke. As the Representative is leaving the room, he encounters a young woman similar to Billy, to whom he suggests to use the magical washing machine.

  • Lorenzo Pomari
    Director
  • Lorenzo Pomari
    Writer
  • Lorenzo Pomari
    Producer
  • Carolina De Leon
    Producer
  • Bryan Webb
    Key Cast
  • Thomas Callahan
    Key Cast
  • Maya Sharpe
    Key Cast
  • Valeria Rifici
    Key Cast
  • Genres:
    Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy, Surreal
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes 38 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 10, 2014
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    Yes
  • Famous Monsters Film Festival
    San Jose, CA
    United States
    May 17, 2014
  • NOFI World Festival of Student & Non-commercial films
    Yerevan
    Armenia
    July 1, 2014
  • Los Angeles Art-House Film Festival
    Los Angeles, CA
    United States
    July 12, 2014
    Best Student Film
  • Galactic Film Festival
    Santa Ana, CA
    United States
    August 9, 2014
  • Three Corpse Circus International Horror Film Festival
    Ann Arbor, MI
    United States
    October 4, 2014
  • Mile High Horror Film Festival
    Littleton, CO
    United States
    October 11, 2014
  • Viewster Online Film Festival
    Online
    September 11, 2014
  • Festival Nacional de Cine Estudiantil

    Uruguay
    September 28, 2014
    South American Premiere
  • Dark Scream Film Festival - Moot Special
    Portsmouth
    United Kingdom
    October 8, 2014
  • Salty Horror International Film Festival
    Salt Lake City, UT
    United States
    October 11, 2014
  • Dark Scream Film Festival
    Portsmouth
    United Kingdom
    April 24, 2015
  • ITSA Film Festival
    Sonora, CA
    United States
    November 7, 2014
  • Fargo Fantastic Film Festival
    Fargo, ND
    United States
    October 26, 2014
  • JUMPTHECUT Next Generation Online Film Festival
    Online
    January 20, 2015
  • MICA Film Festival
    Amazon
    Brazil
    December 2, 2014
    Brazilian Premiere
  • Puerto Rico Horror Film Festival
    San Juan
    Puerto Rico
    October 24, 2014
  • RIP Horror Film Festival
    Long Beach, CA
    United States
    November 8, 2014
  • Muscatine Independent Film Festival
    Muscatine, IA
    United States
    November 14, 2014
  • SciFi Film Festival
    Parramatta
    Australia
    November 16, 2014
    Australian Premiere
  • Siouxland Film Festival
    Sioux City, IA
    United States
    February 27, 2015
  • Macabre Faire Film Festival
    Mastic Beach, NY
    United States
    January 16, 2015
  • New York Scary Awards
    Online
    United States
    February 18, 2015
  • Royal Film Festival
    Benton, AR
    United States
    March 28, 2015
  • Cannes Underground Film Festival
    Cannes
    France
    March 15, 2015
    Audience Award - Student Film
  • Weird Film Fest
    Berkeley, CA
    United States
    March 18, 2015
  • Festival of the Cinematics
    New York, NY
    United States
    March 15, 2015
  • Phoenix ComiCon Film Festival
    Phoenix, AZ
    United States
    May 28, 2015
  • Festival De Cannes - Short Film Corner
    Cannes
    France
    May 13, 2015
  • Dead in Decatur
    Decatur, IL
    United States
    May 15, 2016
  • SoCal Creative & Innovative Film Festival
    Hollywood, CA
    United States
    July 23, 2015
    Best Science Fiction Nominee
  • Global Revolution Festival
    New York, NY
    United States
    August 27, 2015
  • Fantasmagorical Film Festival
    Louisville, KY
    United States
    August 7, 2015
  • El Dorado Film Festival
    El Dorado, AR
    United States
    September 17, 2015
  • Sasquan International Film Festival
    Spokane, WA
    United States
    August 19, 2015
  • CineMo - Festival Cinematografico
    Mesocco
    Switzerland
    August 28, 2015
  • Madtown Horror
    Madison, WI
    United States
    October 24, 2015
  • UK Horror Festival
    North Cadbury
    United Kingdom
    October 29, 2015
  • Unreal Film Festival
    Memphis, TN
    United States
    October 4, 2015
  • Scream in the Dark Film Festival
    Omaha, NE
    United States
    October 16, 2015
  • Dark Frame Film Festival
    Albuquerque, New Mexico
    United States
    October 23, 2015
    Best Student Short
  • Martinsville Horrorfest - International Horror Film Festival
    Rocky Mount, VA
    United States
    November 13, 2015
  • Fi Pi Li Horror Festival
    Livorno
    Italy
    April 23, 2016
    Italian Premiere
  • Hampshire Film Festival
    Hampshire
    United Kingdom
    May 27, 2016
  • Jive Azz Film Festival
    Tarzana, CA
    United States
    June 4, 2016
  • Upstate NY Horror Film Festival
    Rochester, NY
    United States
    October 14, 2016
  • Diabolical Horror Film Festival
    Online
    United States
    November 1, 2016
    Best Score
  • Bloodstained Indie Film Festival
    Long Beach, CA
    December 8, 2016
Director Biography - Lorenzo Pomari

Shy Dragon Productions is the brand associated with the films and videos directed by Lorenzo Pomari.

Lorenzo has always been passionate about Cinema. Thanks to the Festival del film Locarno, which is held in his Swiss hometown every year, he has learned to love films from all over the world. He has been a member of the Youth Jury for Feature Films during the 2004 edition.

He attended college at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (U.S.I.) in Lugano, where he has studied Communication Sciences. In 2009 he graduated with a thesis of critical analysis about the film “V for Vendetta”.

In 2011 he moved to New York to attend the Master Of Fine Arts in Filmmaking program at the New York Film Academy (N.Y.F.A.). In September 2013 he successfully completed the second year of the program in Los Angeles, where he graduated with a final GPA of 3.65/4.00. During the two years spent in film school he had the opportunity to gather a lot of experience in almost every position on set.

As his thesis film, he wrote, directed and edited the short film The Washing Machine, which has been selected by more than 30 film festivals around the world, and its success keeps spreading as more festivals are including it in their programs.

Lorenzo has been working as a freelance filmmaker ever since he graduated. He has mainly worked as an Assistant Camera and as a Camera Operator on numerous short films and different other projects while living in Los Angeles. In December 2014 he has moved back to Switzerland, where he currently lives and works. He has recently realized videos for the Festival del film Locarno and for Sony Europe among others.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

One day at the beginning of October I was doing my laundry and I noticed a pile of clothes that had been left in the there. On top of it there was a 20 dollar bill. I considered taking it, but then I decided to leave it there, thinking that the person who forgot the money would have been happy to find it there. I came back to the laundry room to pick up my clothes about 45 minutes later and the money was still there. I was tempted again. And again I took the same decision. As I was walking back to my apartment, I began thinking about that money; did the person who left it there realized that he was missing 20 dollars? Why were those 20 dollars in plain sight? Did the money magically appear?
This is the event that inspired me to write “The Washing Machine”. At first I was struggling to write a decent draft, mainly because I could not detach myself too much from the real events. Then, while I was at home in Switzerland during Christmas vacation, I decided to rewrite the same story from scratch, and the result was the final draft of the film.
There were some challenges in this production that I did not encounter in my previous projects. It was the first short-film I shot in Los Angeles, and I had to get used to the ways films are produced here, even if I was "just" shooting a small short-film.
There are two main reasons why I decided to shoot this project; I like to define “The Washing Machine” as a surreal horror/comedy, and this is a genre that I really love (“Shaun Of The Dead”, “Army Of Darkness”, “An American Werewolf in London”, etc.). So I decided that as my final project in film school it would have been nice to make my humble contribution to this genre.
The second important reason is the use of special effects. In the final sequence I needed to use both special and visual effects. I have never experimented with those before, so I thought it was important to make the first small step into the special effects world while I was still in film school.
I had fun creating “The Washing Machine” and I am very happy with it. I hope that the final result is a short-film that everybody can enjoy.