To tell – or not to tell? Such is the dilemma of a young girl in 1962 London when she witnesses something not quite right in the period drama short GANEF.
Ruthie (Izabella Dziewanska) likes to play with the cleaner, Lynn (DOWNTON ABBEY‘s Sophie McShera) at her luxury home and fine times are had by the girl with the golden imagination, but when she witnesses the cleaner pick up a piece of silverware and place it in her pocket, she heeds a reflection of her mother who reminisces about her time in Frankfurt – and a dark moment, which in turn prompts Ruthie to take action….
Writer/Director Mark Rosenblatt combines the innocence of childhood with a highly moral tale and strong historical context in the early part of the ‘Swinging Sixties’. Good performances and simple but atmospheric production design and visuals add to the flavour.
About the Production and Team:
Mark Rosenblatt’s period live-action short film GANEF focuses on a young girl who starts to believe her family cleaner is a thief. This powerful award-winning film as a Finalist at the 2021 Manhattan Short Film Festival, that selection made this beautiful film eligible to be considered for a 2022 OSCAR®.
This live action short film has been selected for more than30 film festivals worldwide including the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts, LA Shorts, Chicago International Children’s Festival and Tirana International Film Festivals.
Its recent release on Omeleto has been a hit with the film receiving over 10,000 views in the first couple of days.
Director & Writer Mark Rosenblatt is an award-winning British theatre director (UK’s National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, West End) and is now developing projects as a screenwriter and film director.
In 2016, he adapted and directed short-form Shakespeare adaptations NEWBORN & CLEOPATRA (BFI/Shakespeare’s Globe). In 2019, he co-wrote the feature MAKING NOISE QUIETLY, released by Verve Pictures. GANEF is his first original short as writer-director.
Producer Suri Ellerton is co-founder and producer at feature film and television production house Same Name Productions. She is also currently a member of BFI Network x BAFTA Crew. Prior credits include A TALE OF LOVE AND DARKNESS, (Dir. Natalie Portman) and DIG, an NBCUniversal production starring Jason Isaacs and Anne Heche.
Cinematographer Alana Mejia Gonzalez is an award-winning cinematographer who was selected as a Berlinale Talent and received the BSC Emerging Cinematography Award for her work on THE GIRL WITH TWO HEADS. Her films have been featured in multiple international film festivals, including Cannes and Clermont Ferrand. She has just completed photography on a Mumbai-set Netflix series.
Editor Maya Maffioli’s latest features include Michael Pearce’s Encounter (Amazon Studios) starring Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer, and Clio Barnard’s AVA & ALI (Cannes, TIFF, LFF 2021).
Her long-term collaboration with Pearce began with his BAFTA-nominated shorts RITE, KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES and his debut feature BEAST which won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut in 2019. Maya’s documentary credits include the Netflix-backed documentary KINGDOM OF US ROCKS, Sarah Gavron’s hit feature, which won the 2021 BIFA Award for Best British Independent Film and received seven 2021 BAFTA nominations, winning one.
Lydia Wilson (ALL IS TRUE, STAR TREK BEYOND) stars alongside Sophie McShera.
Read Film And TV Now’s interview with Mark Rosenblatt here:
