Heartbreak & Beauty

ABOUT

Heartbreak & Beauty is an experimental short film that explores how we are all connected through our shared human experiences of love and loss. Expressed through visual metaphor, dance and poetry, twelve people living with an intellectual disability give their perspective on what it means to be human.

Over 10 months I held weekly filmmaking workshops with 12 students with an intellectual disability at Bus Stop Films, with the vision to create a poetic and emotive short film that expressed their experiences. Through creative development workshops, we started exploring themes surrounding the idea, that as humans, we are all connected through our shared experiences of love and loss, no matter who we are or where we are from.
9 of the students decided to perform in the film, 3 decided that they’d like to direct. I mentored three students in the role of the director through the rehearsal process as well as on set.
The result is an authentic and moving portrayal of what it means to be human, told through dance, poetry and visual metaphor.

Producer: Erin Black
DOP: Henry Smith
Editor: Simon Njoo
Composer: Jonny Higgins
Production company – Bus Stop Films