Target reached!
You can help this project to raise more and reach its stretch target.
Waiting
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
Would you rather fly or read minds? Ava & Alma’s flirtatious debate creates a space of shared dreams, witnessed by a possibly magical Waiter
'Waiting' is a queer magical realist story that captures the power of choosing to love, told through a possible moment of connection witnessed by an ethereal waiter.
Inspired by vivid imaginative atmospheres in the films of Celine Sciamma and Charlotte Wells and the paintings of Edward Hopper and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, 'Waiting' explores connection, sapphic flirting, how queer people watch each other, and the shimmering possibility of letting someone in. Centring the desires and curiosity and potential of three young people on the edge of their adult lives - who find themselves sharing a moment - the film explores the nuances of loving another.
Waiter, an elusive character, waits as the final two customers in the restaurant share a dessert. We watch alongside Waiter, dreaming into their world. Ava and Alma's classic date game of 'would-you-rather' allows a story to unfold, exploring the attraction of opposites. Ava and Alma represent body and mind: their imaginative choices of superpower reveal their desires for physical or emotional connection. Whilst Ava owns embodied reality with pleasure, Alma's female gaze seeks to disregard outer layers - she hopes to get past bodies and immerse herself in another’s inner experience. Through Waiter's benevolent gaze, the film critiques both positions; characters highlighting differing realities for differently gendered and racialised bodies.
However, as the restaurant becomes an unexpectedly queer space, the possibility of embodied love suggests a transcendent understanding. Waiter, watching, and willing Ava and Alma to fall in love - to unite body and mind - is a character who confidently embodies paradox. Non-binary in spirit, Waiter is both patient and anxious, curious and aloof, masculine and feminine... even, perhaps, both mundane and magical. 'Waiting' will ultimately engage the audience’s imagination, asking them to imagine further into the characters’ rich lives and meanings. I hope that through the power of image, acting, and music we can create a magical, hopeful, and surprising watching experience.
My work seeks to explore beyond binaries such as mind/body, female/male, self/other - form mirroring content as I work across artistic mediums. As my first film as a director/writer, I want 'Waiting' to showcase a professionalism of the skills and ambitions of those involved. This film will show that passionate young creatives, the same age as the characters, can produce something sleek and beautiful centred in story and connection. The simplicity of the set-up will be balanced by the quality of the filmmaking. I feel incredibly lucky to be working with Tash, Rosie and the team to bring 'Waiting' to life. The money crowdfunded will enable us to realise our creative vision in the most practical and cost effective way, but we need your help to be able to do this. I want this film to be a calling card for the talents of those involved, that encapsulates our feelings of hope, connection and our shedding of strict gender binaries.
Portraying queer and non-binary characters through a hopeful lens is vital to me, especially as society begins to re-think a reductive binary approach to gender and identity labels. Alma and Ava’s easy, shifting use of pronouns when referring to Waiter echoes current linguistic shifts - their casualness around this showcases young people’s accepting attitude to gender diversity. Otherwise, the script resists explicitly labelling its characters, allowing ambiguity and behaviour to centre the humanity of three different queer people.
When inspired to write, I was working in the restaurant in which we will shoot. During late shifts, I was always struck how the space could unexpectedly turn dreamlike, and how my curiosity about customers’ lives could enhance this. 'Waiting' will imbue the viewer with this sense of magic, with possibility, and with the idea of love as the everyday magic powers we all hold within us. When we love – we can fly, we can mind-read. Our body and soul come together in harmony with another’s, even just for a moment.
Therefore, I hope that ‘Waiting’ tells a universal story, even in its specificity. I know about desire and I know about waiting for something you want. We all do. We've all longed to to read someone’s mind, wondered if we could ever really understand someone else – if they'd ever 'really understand' us, as Alma says. We've all longed to escape our bodies’ confines – wished our bodies could do more than they can. ‘I'd be like a superhero’ says Ava. A superhero is just a normal person, with magical powers. They are both. And I hope that through Waiter, and 'Waiting', we can take the audience on an imaginative journey that reminds us all of our own powers in ourself, when we choose to give ourselves to love.
Writer/Director: Katie Friedli Walton
Katie Friedli Walton (she/they) is a British-Swiss actor, artist, writer and director. Driven by the possibilities of creative empathy, Katie loves art that challenges form and binaries.
State-school educated, after training in acting with RADA Youth Company and Lyric Hammersmith, Katie studied English at the University of Oxford. There Katie won the Juliet Bernard Prize for most promising actress and gained a first-class degree. In 2020 Katie played Imogen in BAFTA longlisted short DOLAPO IS FINE (Ethosheia Hylton, 2020), later assisting Apatan Productions with the film’s social media distribution.
After graduating and working as an immigration paralegal for a year, in 2022 Katie’s stage debut was playing Jo March in a new adaptation of LITTLE WOMEN. Katie currently works with Creative Youth UK as an ambassador and filmmaker. Alongside writing and acting, Katie is developing a drag king act on the Soho Theatre Drag Lab 2023. Recently Katie assisted on Disney+ short SLEEPYHEAD by Charlotte Paradise, directed by Milly Garnier and produced by Millie Marsh.
After shooting WAITING, in September Katie will begin full actor training at RADA.
Co-Producer: Rosie Robinson
Rosie Robinson (she/her) is a director and producer currently living and working between France, London and Oxford.
After completing the BFI Future Film Academy at the BFI Southbank and NFTS, Rosie embarked on a degree in French and English at the University of Oxford, during which she has spent 6 months working in documentary distribution at Java Films in Paris.
In 2022, Rosie co-founded Accidental Donkey Productions, a female-led production company, involved alternately as director and producer. Accidental Donkey’s stories explore topics including friendship, love, filmmaking, grief, and ghosts, always with a focus on creating a positive experience for all members of the cast and crew. Their shorts have screened and won at festivals worldwide.
Previous credits include EIGHTEEN (co-director, 2020), A MOSAIC OF ALL POSSIBLE GREENS (director, 2022), GHOST INSURANCE (producer, 2022) and JE VEUX DANSER (director, 2023). Rosie is now in pre-production for a short film about chronic pain, from which she herself suffers; she is passionate about catering for, and portraying this often invisible battle.
Rosie has recently taken on the role of Head of Access for OUFF, and was the chair of Oxford University’s first ever film festival. She is also working as producer on a Royal Geographical Society funded documentary about the Aral Sea Crisis, shooting in Uzbekistan this summer.
Co-Producer: Natasha Ketel
Natasha Ketel (she/ her) is a writer, director and producer from London.
Natasha recently graduated from Durham University with first class honours in BA English Literature. She works for Silver Salt Films (CENSOR | Sundance, Berlinale | Nominated for 9 BIFAs) as Development Assistant. Alongside her work in film, she also works at Jermyn Street Theatre in Piccadilly as Marketing Manager and was the Assistant Producer on Rafaella Marcus’ Sap, which just finished a UK Tour following a three-week run at Soho Theatre.
Natasha co-founded Accidental Donkey, a small, female-led production company focusing on celebrating the joy of cinema in all forms: exploring female friendship, sexuality and providing playful social commentary through comedy, horror and drama.
Her short films have been screened at the BFI Southbank, been selected for BIFA-qualifying film festivals & received over 150k views on YouTube. She is currently producing two proof-of-concept shorts for feature films funded by the BFI.
Director of Photography: Iona Greaves
Iona Greaves (she/ her) is a budding director of photography from London. Whilst at secondary school, she attended the BFI Future Film Academy course at the BFI Southbank. Determined to continue learning how to make good films, and wanting to meet more young and passionate creatives like herself, Iona went to Bournemouth Film School and received a BA degree in Film Production, specialising in Cinematography. There she shot numerous short films, most notably her grad film FLESH OF MY FLESH (Sunitra Siva, 2021) which won multiple film festival awards.
Since completing her degree, Iona has worked in the camera department on various productions ranging from features to music videos. Her credits include Camera Trainee on Lucasfilm’s INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY (James Mangold, 2023), Disney’s SNOW WHITE (Marc Webb, 2024) and Paramount’s BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2024). Not only has working on these sets given Iona technical experience in the camera department but it’s also allowed her to observe the shooting styles and collaboration techniques of some of the world’s top cinematographers.
Now shooting her own short films and music videos, Iona has recently shot two shorts now in the festival circuit. NATURAL SERVICE was directed by Netflix’s THE DIPLOMAT’s Show Runner’s assistant William G. Johnston. AREA BOYS was directed by multiple disciplinary artist and filmmaker Bruno Atkinson, also on the WAITING team. She is really excited to now be shooting WAITING, a really interesting, thought provoking but easy to watch short film.
Whether it be a drama exploring social issues, a laugh-out-loud comedy or a dark thriller, Iona is always eager to shoot a film that packs an emotional punch.
Casting Director: Nancy Case
Since graduating from Oxford in 2021, Nancy Case (she/ her) has assisted award-winning Casting Directors Dixie Chassay (THE FAVOURITE) and Martin Ware (LAST NIGHT IN SOHO) across a range of Film & TV projects, including DUNE: PART II, and 20th Century feature film THE AMATEUR with Rami Malek.
She’s also recently finished working as Casting Director on the short film AREA BOYS, starring Kenyah Sandy (SMALL AXE) and Selorm Adonu (MAN TO MAN), and is excited to continue her work in casting alongside studying for an MA in Theatre Directing with Katie Mitchell OBE at Royal Holloway this coming year.
1st AD: Bruno Atkinson
Bruno Atkinson (he/him) is an independent filmmaker and first assistant director based in South London.
He has assistant directed for directors such as Elena Escalante, Simone Dawkins, Theo Simmons, Calum Bradshaw and Chris Rainey. He always brings his 100% to make sure his crews are protected, his directors are happy and the best film possible gets made. His goal is to tell forward-thinking and experimental stories while bringing together teams of diverse and socially-conscious filmmakers and professionals.
1st AD credits: OLIVES ON THE EDGE (Theo Simmons)"AGUILAR DE LA FRONTERA (Theo Simmons), MY DAYS OF EATING FLOWERS (Elena Escalante), DEAD RINGER FOR LOVE (Simone Dawkins), UP CLOSE & OUT OF OFFICE (Chris Rainey) LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN (Calum Bradshaw), UPPER AIR (Theo Simmons) and ENERGY PLAN (Clara Atkinson).
Production Designer: Tara Kelly
Tara Kelly (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work spans film, theatre, painting and graphic design. After graduating from the University of Oxford with a degree in English literature, she went on to study at the Royal Drawing School.
As a a London based set and production designer, in film she has worked on a number of narrative shorts, music videos and animations, including CURIOSA (Tessa Moult-Milewska, 2021) which screened at the London Film Festival and was nominated for an RTS best animation, and ENDOCRINE (Daniel Curtis, 2021) which was nominated for Best short at Birmingham Film Festival and White Deer International Film Festival.
In Theatre, she has designed shows at the King’s Head Theatre, the Playground Theatre, VAULTs Theatre Festival and for Edinburgh and Camden Fringe.
Movement Director: Stephanie Burrell
Stephanie Burrell is a dancer, actor and movement director, originally from Manchester. She trained in Contemporary Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, to then went on to study Spanish and German at King’s College London. Her performance credits span between London and Berlin. Originally, her movement direction work was predominantly with Jazz musicians for their own performances and visuals. In 2021 she began working with theatre companies. A long-term collaboration is with Freight Theatre, choreographing their 2021 Film ‘Move Fast and Break Things’. Following, she worked with ‘As If Productions’ on their play LUCID from 2021-2022 which was shown at the Chelsea Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Stephanie looks forward to working on WAITING to explore how movement can add to the magical realism aesthetic.
Songwriter: Caleb Obediah
Caleb Obediah is an actor, musician and creative producer. As an actor, Caleb can currently be seen as Lord Cho in Netflix’s second series of Bridgerton, and will return for Season 3. He also recently worked with The Royal Court on The Living Newspaper. Caleb trained at RADA, where he received the Laurence Olivier Award, the Casting Directors’ Guild and the Les Enfants Terribles (LET) Award. During his time at RADA, Caleb also worked in Greece with Wind-Up Penguin, a humanitarian theatre company made up of professional musicians and actors, all with firsthand experience of how the arts can transform lives, who perform original music, theatre and workshops for children living in poverty or as refugees.
Caleb co-produces the beloved music and spoken word event ‘A Night with Caleb and Lara’, alongside Lara Grace Illori, at Streatham Space Project. He also works frequently with young people, creating opportunities for them in the arts. Recently Caleb undertook a producing course with East London Dance, which culminated in an event for artists considering themes of Mental Health and Enrivonmentalism. He has also been professionally developing his skills in podcasting, singing, and music production.
Caleb writes his own music and is currently working on an EP.
This project successfully funded on 27th July 2023