No Shortage on Rage!
About two years ago myself and fellow creator Alrik Bursell faced a challenge to tell a...different kind of story. One that told a tale about pain, internal violence, and sex. Mind you these three ingredients make up a wide variety of content that we see already, however how and why we decided to tell this story is something different. The Rage is a short film that follows one man's evening into darkness.
Since it's festival run, last year, the two us thought of when we would finally release it online for the world to see. Well the time is now! This short film is personal. The tone is something that is very real, but the content is entirely fictional. We were lucky enough to have our film showcased as a Daily Short Pic on the website FILM SHORTAGE. And that's not all. Because of the content of this piece we felt that there should be a discussion about this piece in the hopes of beginning some type of dialogue, and that is why there will be two episodes from the podcast MAKING MOVIES IS HARD hosted by Alrik Bursell and Timothy Plain. During this show there will be some time dedicated to talking about the short film and it's content. The first part will feature Sophia Laplagia (the lead actress) who will talk a bit about Sex and Violence in film. Click here for PART ONE.
The second part of the podcast I will be helping to discuss creating work that will surely divide an audience and what it entails. Stay tuned I will post it as we are recording this week.
Here is more information on The Rage:
Creator’s Statements
Writer/Producer/Star – L. Jeffrey Moore
The Rage is a fictional diary of my thoughts in my personal life as both a father and a black man dealing with a wide myriad of things. I wrote this knowing that not everyone would like it or want to see it, and honestly I’m fine with that. Art isn’t necessarily made to be liked by all audiences. Art is an expression of the human experience and should not be afraid to push boundaries, The Rage is no different.
The film started as the simple yet complex thought of a man, put in a situation where his role as a husband and “provider” are questioned, and the toll it can take on him.
Writer/Producer/Director – Alrik Bursell
When Jeff first brought the The Rage to the table I saw that this was a story I related to, not only as a man but as a person having gone through a tough relationship. We wanted to translate into a film that had no voice over and no dialogue. Given the intense graphic material, I knew I wanted to keep it raw in translating it into a film and that we wanted to make a statement through the story. What Jeff and I came up with was a metaphor using the sex and violence to deliver a message as the story unfolds.
Like Jeff said, this film won’t make everyone happy, but I hope it will get every person who watches it talking and open up discussions about violence, sex and anger, so we can help keep all of our emotions in check.