“Thaw” By Sabrina Song

Thawing is a kind of sad hibernation, like you’ve built up layers of protection and defense mechanisms that need to be slowly melted away. Most important is the slowness, change doesn’t happen overnight and everything is fragile and uncertain and gradual.

WARNING: FLASHING IMAGES

The short film IN MEDIAS RUSH is an experimental cinematic journey into the depths of a manic mind. A poetic retro-sci-fi narrative unfolded in a string of unsettling tableaus that encapsulates the male protagonist’s ambiguous feelings about his birthday. While balancing between realities in his silent struggle with severe mental illness, we plunge into the film at a neatly orchestrated birthday party. The protagonist is accompanied by his girlfriend, and they are drinking cocoa on the couch in their mutual home. The setting breathes pure perfection, but through the voice over we sense that another reality is soon to be revealed. With one foot on the accelerator, he is heading towards the edge. The thematic focal point of IN MEDIAS RUSH is mental health problems among young adults, and the social/personal consequences related to the existing taboo on the subject. The film wishes to formulate an honest cinematic space in which words, sound, and image artistically interprets and articulates some of the perspectives related to especially bipolar, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. IN MEDIAS RUSH was nominated in the category 'Best Danish Short Film' at Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2020. Original title: IN MEDIAS RÆS Directed by: Esben Persson -------------------- DK: IN MEDIAS RÆS IN MEDIAS RÆS er en filmisk rejse ind i dybderne af et manisk sind. En ung mand fejrer sin fødselsdag, mens hans tanker tordner afsted. Med en uvillig fod på speederen har han kurs mod kanten. FR: IN MEDIA RES IN MEDIA RES est un voyage dans les profondeurs d’un esprit maniaque. Un jeune homme fête son anniversaire tandis que ses pensées se multiplient. Malgré lui, il se dirige vers un point de non-retour. -------------------- Cast: Peter Alexander Bach & Amanda Overby Drew Director // Script writer // Set designer // Costume designer // Editor // Speaker: Esben Persson Photographer // Editor: Lasse Mølsted Producer: Latifa Lykke Ben Mabrouk Assistant producer: Cecilie Creutsberg Music composer: Martin Bejder Sound designer: Mads Hye Chief Lighting Technician: Rasmus Bruun Liboriussen VFX: Jonas Fonnesbæk Lodahl Colorist: Kristopher Paterson Graphic designer: Jakob Toft Kristensen -------------------- Shot on RED Monstro 8K with Lomo Squarefront Anamorphics.

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Credits

Performed by Sabrina Song
Director: Zac Dov Wiesel
Producer: Julieta Lozano
DP: Gabriel Connelly
Line Producer: Blair Taller
1st AD: Cami Olses
1st AC: Allie Iacono
Production Designer: Katie Balun
Art Assistant: Chris Li
Art Assistant: Grace Musser
Gaffer: Declan Saint-Onge
Key Grip: David Persaud
Grip: Dante Pichardo
Costume Designer: Alexa Spitz
Stylist: Maeve Mclaughlin
Make-up: Tania Mallah
Choreographer: Samantha Verity
Face VFX: Shea Orachski
B/W VFX sequence: Guy Bergman
VFX sequence inspired: Zach Milonas
Edit: Zac Dov Wiesel and Sabrina Song
Titles: Ariel Kader
Colorist: Joseph Bicknell

The Figures (In Order of Appearance):
Madeline Song, Isio-Maya Nuwere, Savannah Gaillard, Owen Burnham

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