Sharp Shorts Year 2
Running Time: 13mins
Year: 2022
Synopsis: Plus size burlesque enthusiast Mandy, is practising for her first public performance. But only when her best friend needs her help does she find the confidence to perform in her full power.
FULL CREW:
Director: Sarah Grant
Producer: Misha McCullagh
Executive Producer: Lauren Lamarr, Gabriel Robertson and Blazing Griffin
Screenwriter: Sarah Grant
DOP: Owen Laird
1st AD: Charlotte Daniel
Editor: Elizabeth ClutterbuckSound Designer and Composer: David DevereuxProduction Design: Iveta Smidt Costume Design: Nicola EllisHair & Makeup: Samantha JackPost Production Supervisor: Dionisis SarakinisPrincipal Cast: Sarah Grant, Katrina Allen, Cameron Fulton, Derek Jeck, Ian Laing, Cindy Awor, Miss Bella Houston and Phoneutria Fera
Photo credit: Kevin J. Thomson
Sarah is a writer, director, performer and poet based in Glasgow. Her first short film, The Cyclist (2014), was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award and her most recent short Scare (2019) gained BAFTA Qualifying status and was awarded feature film development funding. Sarah has created a number of short form work for BBC The Social and BBC Short Stuff, featuring body and sex positive female fronted comedy, gaining tens of millions of views across digital and social platforms as well as a Royal Television Society Scotland award.
Sarah is currently taking steps towards writing long form for film and TV. She developed her first feature script with Short Circuit and Screen Scotland, was part of programmes such as the EIFF Talent Lab and UKTV Comedy 5050 pilot initiative, and has work currently in development with BBC Scotland. Sarah is committed to body positive, sex positive and inclusive female led stories that are honest, feminist and fearless.
Misha is a producer, with interdisciplinary experience in the creative industries. She is a BAFTA Prince William Bursary recipient and a GFF New Talent Mentee. She was selected for Short Circuit’s Producer Accelerator in 2021.
Misha works in association with Blazing Griffin who are executive producers of Misha’s 2022/23 slate. She is currently developing a feature film We Are Not Animals, about Scottish prison reform in the 1980s, directed by Khaled Spiewak, written by RTS winning Stef Smith and with BAFTA winning DOP Alan McLaughlin. She also produced BFI Network short Candy with Sarah Grant which is currently tearing up the festival circuit, with three BAFTA and BIFA qualifying festivals already under its belt and a top prize win at 16 Days 16 Films.
Misha also works as a production coordinator, recently on CBBC’s The Dumping Ground, The Hogmanay Show 2022 and Molly and Mack series 3 & 4. Misha is driven to create work that is bold and vivid, amplifying underrepresented voices whilst diversifying and promoting the wealth of Scottish based talent on and off screen.
Sharp Shorts Year 1
Running Time: 17mins
Year: 2022
Synopsis: Annette lives a discontented life in a road-side cafe until Morgan enters one day and the pair become immediately transfixed by one another. They are inevitably drawn into a deeply intense romantic attraction they are fated never to fully realise.
FILM CREW:
Director: Olivia J. Middleton
Producer: Carys Evans
Exec Producer: Garry Paton, MTP, Gillian Berrie, Tiernan Kelly, Rebecca Thompson, Mar Vila Barcelo, Alice Whittemore, Sean Greenhorn
Writer: Olivia J. Middleton
DOP: Leon Brehony
Editor: Olivia J. Middleton
Sound Design: Heather Andrews
Composer: David Scobie
Production Design: Gail Bowman (Prep), Kieran McCruden
Costume Design: Lucy Proctor
Hair & Makeup: Madeleine Drewell
Cast: Marli Siu, Sinead Macinnes, Jamie Robson, Trish Mullin
Photo credit: Aga Urbanska
Olivia J. Middleton is a UK based director who’s portfolio encompasses narrative films, commercials and music videos.
Her short film Rosalyn went on to screen at several revered festivals in the UK and internationally, including Belfast Film Festival, Kerry International Film Festival, Underwire Film Festival, Edinburgh Short Film Festival and Cork Film Festival. Rosalyn won the Best Scottish Short award at Edinburgh Short Film Festival 2020 and the Best Cork Short award at Cork Film Festival 2019.
In 2022, Olivia completed her short film A90, which was developed and commissioned by Screen Scotland and BFI NETWORK in association with Short Circuit. She is also in post production for another short film Morning which is set to be complete this year. A90 premiered in November 2022 at Aesthetica Short Film Festival.
Her commercial for Zero Waste Scotland was recognised by the Marketing Society Star awards for which the campaign was awarded Bronze for marketing planning and insights. She regularly collaborates with local musicians on promo videos, which have screened at festivals such as Aesthetica Short Film Festival.
Carys is co-director of Finite Productions Scotland. Her passion for talent development, cultivated from an early career working with Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Scottish Film Talent Network, and Glasgow Film Festival, has carried over into her career as a producer. She is committed to working with new and emerging filmmakers, working collaboratively towards telling stories, shaded with authenticity and captivating detail.
Her recent producing credits include short films A90 (dir. Olivia J. Middleton – World Premiere, Aesthetica Short Film Festival) and You Land (dir. Debora Maité Bottino – in post-production), both commissioned by Screen Scotland and BFI NETWORK as part of Short Circuit’s Sharp Shorts scheme. She has a number of shorts and features in development, including elevated female-led horror Mother Furnace (dir. Kirsty McLean – in development with Le Groupe Ouest, with initial development at LiM Residency).
