Hello everyone and welcome to the fundraising page for 'The Orchard Room'.
Our film joins a rising wave of feminist filmmakers striving for revolution within the film industry and it's narrative befittingly speaks of women empowering other women.
The Orchard Room, written and directed by Eva Gnatiuk, is a new Scottish short responding to sexism and complicity in the film industry and the endemic sidelining of female actors, particularly over a certain age, to support male-centric storylines. It aims to draw attention to this level of disparity for actresses in a film industry that is itself complicit in sexism and abuse.
It follows the story of Agnes, a 37-year-old woman, who is forced to take a temporary job at a 'men-only' event run by Mr. Whyte. Throughout the evening, wealthy men indulge in degradation and harassment of the female workers. That is, until Agnes finally retaliates. This in turn inspires Chloe, a younger employee, to find her own strength to stand up to Tony, the psychopathic film producer.
The film pulls no punches in it's reference to figures such as Harvey Weinstein and the recent men-only 'Presidents Club Charity Dinner' in London, but also criticises the complicity and subterfuge of those involved. It further aims to represent a socio-economic reality that is often rendered silent in media and public backlash, and how this erases individual experience.
We believe that this is more than just a film, but an important project that we are truly passionate about and would like as much people to be a part of it.
Where will the funds go?
Filmmaking is costly and unfortunately as students we cannot afford to cover all the costs of an ambitious project. That's where your help comes in. The money that is donated will help allow the film to express this important message in a professional manner, to allow the film to make a serious mark on the subject matter.
We want this film to be as evocative and authentic as possible and money raised will go towards:
Production Design, Wardrobe and Makeup: Costume and Set Design are critical to enrich the film with it's vivid atmosphere as well as feel of authenticity.
Locations: The Orchard Room is juxtaposed between realism and surrealist horror, inspired by American Psycho, Only God Forgives, The Company of Wolves. New Glasgow Jazz club, The Blue Arrow, is the perfect setting around which the film revolves, but understandably, every great location comes with a cost.
Travel: We need to fund the travel of equipment, crew and cast to and from various locations. But most importantly, this cost includes the reimbursement of travel money for our cast.
Catering: Our days will be long and hard. Feeding a hungry cast and crew is necessary to keep our team happy and full of energy, with your help we can ensure that for all the talented people working on our set.
Festival Fees: Anything extra that we raise will cover extra costs and go towards the necessary fees to enter the film into U.K and International festivals, including promotional design materials, enabling it to reach a wider audience and provide voice to an issue that is more often than not swept under the carpet.
THE TEAM
We have highly talented actors in place and a strong crew, all dedicated to make the best production possible:
Our Crew:
Eva Gnatiuk - Director
Aislinn Belot & Claudia Docherty - Producer
David Sexton - Director of Photography
Iines Råmark - Sound Recordist/Sound Designer
Ludovic Barrier - Sound Recordist
Chris Harrison - Editor
Seonaid Burns - Production Designer
Our Cast:
Elizabeth Caproni as Agnes - IMDB
Claire Hubsmith as Cloelia
Robert Harrison as Mr.Whyte -IMDB
Alec Westwood as Tony - IMDB
Ian Sexton as Bruce
John Stewart as Goldstein
Joe Maitland as Jimmy
Jay Randhawa as Steiners
Extras:
Angela Legg, Viviana Karin Haas Martin, Misha McCullagh, Liam Roberton, Michael Coyle, Mark Edmondson, Barry Smith, John Veitch and Tony Cooper.
Gary Cameron, acclaimed composer/sound designer has also reached out to us to generously offer his time to work on the film.
Support and Share!
We would be extremely grateful your help in making this film reach it's true potential and reach as many people as possible about this important subject matter. If you cannot financially back our project please follow and share our Facebook page and keep up to date with us on Twitter. Thank you.
Please help give this film, and its message, the platform it deserves. Support change in the industry!
Thank you for taking the time to read about our project.
If you have any further questions, please email: [email protected]
- The Orchard Room Team
MA Filmmaking -UWS