A one-shot thriller trapping the viewer in a mysterious quarrel between neighbors.
Synopsys
Jack, the leader of a gang precocious outcasts, is woken up after a night of partying by a neighbour suddenly blasting music at 6 in the morning. Whether he’s doing it out of resentment or innocent insensibility matters little to Jack; his fight is with his followers, whom he must prevent from knocking on the neighbour’s door or, what’s worse, calling the police on him.
The reasons behind this irrational resistance toward engaging with the neighbour, as well as the motives for the loud music, are gradually and violently revealed throughout the film... and that’s all you need to know about that.
Technical Prowess
Island Life is a technical feat both in terms of cinematography and use of sound. The 23-minute short is made up of 5 long takes, stitched together to give the illusion of a continuous shot. This uninterrupted rush of action denies the audience the chance to breathe and approach the situation calmly and logically, forcing them to experience the same loss of control and dramatic crescendo as the characters.
All of this is accompanied by the deafening music and occasionally shouted dialogue to which Jack and his gang are subjected. Pushing the limits of entertainment, the audience too wants the neighbor to stop his music and gradually turn against Jack.
A Team of Seasonsed Professionals
Gavin Michael Booth, director: a 20-year career as director, writer, producer, editor and just about any other role on set has earned him over 150 music video directing credits and 40 feature film directing credits, not to mention a handful of one-shot wonders.
In 2020, Andres Cabrera Rucks, then producer for Télévision McGill, wrote the first version of Island Life's script. He tried to produce the short film twice, in 2020 and 2021, but COVID-19 aborted the project on both occasions.
In January 2022, Andres decided to team up with Vincent Copti, with whom he had previously collaborated on commercials for PanArt Productions. Together, they reworked the script and came up with the most ambitious project of their careers until then.
In July 2022, their choice of director settled on Gavin Michael Booth, a cinematographer expert in sequence shots who would be able to pull off the technical feat that is Island Life.
The co-producers started 2023 on the right foot, closing their budget thanks to an impressive crowdfunding campaign that raised over $16,000 from more than 150 contributors.
From February to May, they held auditions, visited potential locations and recruited the rest of the crew. The film was finally shot in 4 days, preceded by 3 days of rehearsals in June 2023.
After meticulous editing to achieve the desired visual and sound ambience, Island Life should be ready for a festival tour starting in May 2024 (almost 4 years after the first version of the script was written).
