Director: Kristian Fitsall
Writer Kristian Fitsall
Cast: Georgie McGuigan and Lydia Hourihan
Synopsis: Tired of her housemate stealing her toiletries, Darcy takes a twisted revenge in this darkly comic parody of a ‘How To’ video.
With The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival will be returning once again from 26th – 29th May, I got an opportunity to ask Writer/Director Kristian Fitsall a few questions about the film ‘Teething Problems’ which has been selected to play at the festival on Saturday 28th May at 9 pm.
Q. What can we expect from the film?
A. Laughs and hopefully something you’ve never seen before! We filmed it for the Straight8 film competition, where it was selected as one of their top 25 shorts of 2021. It was all shot in order on one roll of film, then we didn’t get to see it for 6 months until the premiere. It’s a gross but incredibly fun short that I’m really proud of.
Q. How did the idea for the film come about?
A. I and Teething Problems’ producer David Freedman had discussed doing a short for Straight8 and so I brainstormed some ideas. Like many people I spent lockdown getting irrationally annoyed at the people I lived with over very insignificant and mundane things. The film basically asks, “What would happen if you actually tried to get revenge on someone for stealing your toothpaste?”
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I’m very inspired by 80’s B-movie horror films, as if shot through the lens of Wes Anderson. I wanted a sickly-sweet colour pallet so that you almost don’t notice how nasty this film is until it’s too late.
Q. Were there any elements of the original script which were adapted during filming?
A. Mostly just shortening it down so that it would fit onto 3 minutes and 20 seconds of film stock, but that was all done in pre-production. On our actual shoot day, everything was planned down to the milli-second.
Q. What were your favourite moments whilst making the Film?
A. I was blessed with an amazing crew on this one, because of the way we shot it we only had one chance to get each shot which gave a real sense of camaraderie to the shoot day. There’s also a moment where we see spit hitting a sink and I was very specific over where I wanted it to land, which meant directing a scene with a mouthful of gross blue liquid. That was pretty memorable.
Q. Did you experience any issues whilst making the film?
A. Less than I expected. We planned for the worst, so the shooting day actually went really smoothly, even though we were shooting during the pandemic. Big lesson there is not to sleep on pre-production. Big thanks to Producer David Freedman, Cinematographer Nicolas Lejtreger, Production Designer Zoe Cavendish and all the crew for their amazing work on Teething Problems.
Q. What do you hope people will take away from the film
A. Georgie McGuigan and Lydia Hourihan, who play the two housemates put in some wonderful memorable performances and Richard Savage’s Narrator is brilliantly funny! My main thing is that I want people to walk out with a smile on their face, but there is a little bit of me hoping that I’ve created some awkward conversations for any housemates watching together.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are working on?
A. Lots of writing at the moment, hopefully directing some more music videos soon because they’re always fun. I’ve got some more (even weirder!) shorts that I’d love to make if I can get the budget together.
Q. If someone is looking to direct their first film, what advice would you give them?
A. If it’s your first short, try and write for one location with as few characters as possible. And have fun with it, that’s the most important thing.
The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival runs from 26th – 29th
You can find out more about the end and purchase tickets on the website here: https://www.southendfilmfestival.com/
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
