Synopsis
Chairs are everywhere. We cannot avoid them. Everywhere we turn in society, there they are, in one form or another. So what if you were so obsessed with chairs that they were controlling your daily life? This is the very condition which JOEL JUDSON still suffers from. So one night he decides to seek help, and becomes the last patient of the day for his new psychiatrist, SERAPHINA BROOKS. As Joel regales his peculiar condition, Seraphina is drawn into a situation she never expected.
MINUTES
RELEASE
CAST
sunset aperture
Sunset Aperture are an award-winning production company based in London. They have worked with teams on six continents, including Oscar Nominees, Emmy Winners, and BAFTA winners. Chairs is their latest short film. You can read about this production with the link below.
james hughes
director statement
Throughout my formative years I was immersed in the films of Buster Keaton. His comedic timing and innovative approach to filmmaking has been an inspiration for the conception of Chairs.
This passion project of mine has been developed over the last five years and focuses on the winsome JOEL JUDSON and his peculiar lifetime infatuation with chairs.
Juxtaposed with the energetic comedy of this central scene between Joel and his new psychiatrist
SERAPHINA BROOKS, the film explores Joel’s anecdotes through a succession of highly stylised set pieces. This elegant cinematography and fast snappy dialogue pays homage to the classic comedies of Billy Wilder. While embodying the classy period feel of those great 1950s and 1960s comedies, this film is set in the modern day.
Furthermore it takes advantage of modern day techniques, such as visual effects to enhance some of these visuals even more.
To achieve its stylised aesthetic, Chairs was shot with the DP’s Arri Alexa Mini LF and Signature Primes from Focus Canning.
It was very much a driving ambition to harness my experience to make Chairs one of the most enjoyable, original, and visual short films, on the film festival circuit.