SyNOPSIS


An apocalyptic world. A devastated city. One last survivor.

Edgar has learned to survive on his own avoiding contaminated areas by the «incident» which destroyed life as we knew it.

But Edgar’s routine is suddenly disrupted by the discovery of a wall with graffitis by his bed. Just one word reveals the presence of another survivor: «Anna»



info


Crew

Director – Lluis Quilez
Writers – Lluis Quilez, Javier Gullon
Producers – Lluis Quilez, Ester Velasco, Cristian Guijarro
Executive producers – Cristian Conti, Jonathan King, Jeff Skoll
Associate Producers – Peter H. Reynolds, Xavier Cardona
Music – Arnau Bataller
Editing – Jaume Marti, Jose Luis Romeu
Sound – Jordi Rossinyol, Albert Manera, Marc Orts
Director of photography – Isaac Vila
Production designer – Clara Alvarez
Visual effects – Luis Tinoco
Costume designer – Giovanna Ribes
Make up artist – Ana Maria Balsera
Assistant director- David Casas Riesco

technical info

Country of production: Spain
Year of production: 2015
Running Time: 30’
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
DCP 2K / Color / 24 f.p.s.
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Language: English
Subtitules: English, Spanish, Catalan, French


Cast

Edgar – Oriol Pla

bio director

Lluis Quilez

Lluís Quílez was born in Barcelona and graduated in film direction at ESCAC. More than 100 award-winning with his previous short-films “EL SIGUIENTE”, “AVATAR” and “YANINDARA” (Melies d’Or, Oscar short-listed) he made his feature directorial debut on Participant Media’s “OUT OF THE DARK”, a Colombian-set ghost story, produced by Apaches Ent, Dynamo Capital and Participant Media, starring Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Stephen Rea. Lluís Quílez combines his career on directing commercials along with teaching: delivering lectures on film direction at the University.



Director’s Statement

GRAFFITI is a post-apocalyptic drama, which – through the very own premise of the fantasy genre as a starting point, uses custom as the main tool to tell a harrowing, intense and disturbing story.

Edgar, the lead character is, as far as the eye can see, the only survivor of a nuclear massacre that has destroyed its surroundings. His days are monotonous, filled with nothingness. Nonetheless, Edgar tries to overcome loneliness by creating his own universe in order to help him escape the misery of it all. There is no tomorrow in his world, no future, but in spite of it all, he has learned to set his imagination free. I believe that isolation and loneliness are undoubtedly two of the traits human beings tend to feel in the present moment. It is indeed ironic since we are experiencing the golden age of “global communication”, where technological advances allow us to be “closer” to one another, more than ever.

“Anna”: The sudden appearance of this handwritten word on the wall next to Edgar’s sleeping place, reveals the presence of another survivor and changes the rules Edgar used to live by. This moment triggers an exchange of words on the same wall between Edgar and this mysterious girl, and it will question our protagonist’s values such as faith and sanity.

The core of the story is therefore a conversation- more like a chat- kept between two strangers who never see each other. A conversation that will break the monotony of their dull existence and will overturn their fears and deepest desires. Paradoxically, the letters will gradually be covering the idyllic image of an idyllic beach with which Edgar had decorated his hideout.This evocative image will be the tool that serves to sow the abyss into which the characters are precipitated into. Their scribbles are indirectly erasing the possibility of a better world, away from the contaminated area. Their profound and sincere words will make them realize that the paradise they dreamed of is not a place but a state of mind: being together.

Graffiti is a minimalistic story, told through details, using few characters and locations to explain what the film is about. That is why decided to shoot in the abandoned town of Pripyat (Ukraine) and use it as our main location. This city is known because it suffered the worst accident in the history of nuclear power on April 26 1986 when the overheating and explosion of reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant occurred. It released 500 times more radiation than the atomic bomb that landed on Hiroshima in 1945. So the city was heavily affected by radiation and had to be evacuated. Collapsed buildings, empty streets, echoes of vandalism, the sacking of the last survivors before being evacuated, leaks, vegetation plows cracking in cement, mold covered walls, are some of the cold and ghostly symptoms our hero Edgar lives in. GRAFFITI lies in a type of cinema interested in raising questions rather than giving out the answers. A cinema that values and respects its viewers by giving hem the opportunity to digest what they have just witnessed; a cinema in which the audience will bring their own interpretation to the facts.



FESTIVALS

– Festival Internacional Fantastic de Sitges: Oficial Section
– XI Sueños en corto La Rioja.
– 31 Santa Barbara Int. Film Festival 2016
– 41 Boston SCI-FIlm festival
– 18 Mecal: Festival de cortometrajes de Barcelona
– Imagine Film Festival Amsterdam
– Ecozine Film Festival: Festival de Cine y Medio Ambiente
– Uranium Film Festival
– Dead by Dawn: Scotland’s International Horror Film Festival
– Festival de Cine de Medina del Campo
– Vagrant Film Festival (Bielorusia)
– Indie Flicks (U.K.)
– Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
– Leiden International Short Film Experience
– Green Film Festival in Seoul
– 12º Festival Redondela en curto.
– Sci-fi London International Film Festival
– 56 Krakow Film Festival
– XV Alivés Acción Film Festival
– Fant Bilbao : clausura
– Festival de Huesca
– Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival
– Cayman International Film Festival
– Cryptshow Festival: película de inaguración.
– The Accolade Global Film
– Rodinia Short Film Festival
– Festival de Cine en Corto Ciudad de Consuegra
– Nocturna Fantastic Film Festival Madrid: panorama
– Cinemajove de Valencia: panorama valenciano
– Sembrando Cine: VIII Festival de Medioambiente (Perú)
– 3er Festival Gollut
– Alfas del Pi Film Festival
– FRAPA – Festival de Roteiro Audiovisual de Porto Alegre (Brasil)
– Festival de cinema Fantastic de Sant Cugat
– Festival Internacional de Cine Bajo la Luna de Islantilla.
– 25º Festival de Cine de Madrid (FCM-PNR)
– 17th Woodstock Film Festival
– Fancine de Lemos: Festival de Cine Fantastico de Monforte
– 6° Premio Nacional de Cortometrajes Jaime Osorio Gómez
– IBERTIGO -Muestra de Cine Iberoamericano de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
– CINETEKTON! Festival Internacional de Cine y Arquitectura
– XIVª Festival de Cortometraje Mediterranéo de Tanger.
– Filmets: Fetival de Badalona
– Almeria Western Film Festival: International section.
– Semana Festicine Video Imagen (Colombia)
– II Festival Internacional de Cine de Begur (Spain)
– V Festival K-Lidoscopi (Spain)
– Planeta.Doc (Brasil)
– XVIII Octubre Corto: Festival de cine de Arnedo en la Rioja (Spain)
– Acollona’t: Semana del cine fantastico y de terror de Girona (Spain)
– 37th edition of Festival du Film Court de Villeurbanne (France)
– 46 Alcine: Festival de Cine de Alcalá de Henares / Comunidad de Madrid (Spain)
– Mallorca Evolution Film Festival (Spain)
– XIV Catacumba Film Festival (Spain)
– Planet.Doc International Film Festival
– Cortopilar (Spain)
– I Filmmaker International Film Festival Marbella (Spain)
– Erie International Film Festival 2016 (USA)
– 2016 Great Lakes Short Film Festival

AWARDS

– Best European Short Film and Melies D’Argent at Sitges Film Festival. (Spain)
– Best Short film at Boston Sci-Film Festival (USA)
– Best Short Film at Santa Barbara Film Festival -Oscar Qualifyed – (USA)
– 3rd Prize at Sueños en Corto (Spain)
– Special Jury Prize, Best Music and Best Sound at Medina del Campo Film Festival. (Spain)
– Director’s Choice Award at Indie Flicks (U.K.)
– Best Live Action Short Film at Ecozine Zaragoza (Spain)
– Best Live Action Short Film at Rio du Janeiro Uranium Film Festival (Brasil)
– Excelence Award at RIFF 2016: Rincón International Film Festival Puerto Rico. (Puerto Rico)
– Best Script and Best ShortFIlm by the Young Jury at Aviles Acción Film Festival (Spain)
– People’s Choice at Vagrant Film Festival (Bielorusia)
– Award of Excellence Special Mention: Film Short at the Accolade Global Film Competition (USA)
– Special Mention at 3er Festival Gollut (Spain)
– Best Cinematography at Cinemajove Film Festival (Spain)
– Best Short Film at Best Short Competition (USA)
– Best Screenplay, Best final and Best dialogues at FRAPA – Festival de Roteiro Audiovisual de Porto Alegre (Brasil)
– Best Direction, Critics Award and Audience Award at Festival de cinema Fantastic de Sant Cugat (Spain)
– Best Cinematography at Alfas del Pi Film Festival (Spain)
– Special Mention at Fancine de Lemos: Festival de Cine Fantastico de Monforte
– Young Jury Award and Best Direction at Octubre Corto: Festival de cine de Arnedo en la Rioja (Spain)
– Best Music at V Festival K-Lidoscopi (Spain)
– 2º Prize at II Festival Internacional de Cine de Begur (Spain)
– Best Narrative Short at 17th Woodstock Film Festival (USA)
– Best Film at Catacumba Film Festival (Spain)