Illustrator & Creative Director
Bitter Taste
After a night with friends, antisocial 22-year-old, Emily, reluctantly confronts her significant other over their shared secrecy.
Directed By Khloë Windsor
Role: Director, Writer, Production Designer
Project filmed with Sony PMW-F5 with Samyang Xeen PL Mount Lenses.
Festivals:
Official Selection | May-June, 2021 | Blackboard International Film Festival
Best Student Short - Special Mention | August 2021 | Accord Cine Fest
Best Short LGBTQ | September 2021 | V.i.Z. Film Fest
Official Selection | 2021 | Portsmouth Shorts::Cut Film Festival
Official Selection | 2021 | Southampton Film Week
Best Student Short Film | October 2021 | Cooper Awards
Official Selection 19-21 | 2022 | The INDIs Film Festival
Official Selection | 2022 | Sincine Film Festival
Reviews:
"This gripping conversation expressed through intense dialogue heightens the story by providing their conflict with additional emotional weight. It efficiently captures their crumbling love with brutal sincerity by further expressing volumes about the nature of social stigmatisation and perception concerning their own relationship. An amalgamation between both protagonists’ outlooks and societal observation creates a claustrophobic atmosphere that accentuates the drama.
(...)
Bitter Taste is a truly captivating short film that showcases far more than a relationship simply falling apart due to secrets. It communicates a story underlined by an important social commentary and eye for detail that resonates long after its initial running time. Short films such as Bitter Taste are critical in our current social climate for positive change purely based upon the realistic representation of an LGBTQ+ relationship which many can connect with. The filmmakers behind this project show tons of potential and hopefully, they create more exciting projects in the future."
"The foundational idea here is, of course, communication. How frail is communication and commitment, primarily to oneself and secondarily to our loved ones? Honesty becomes a relative term when it comes to subjectivity, which is why we need to regularly check how we frame and understand the narrative of our life. Every story has as many aspects as the parties involved, so in this case as well, both parties have rightful points of view.
The bitter taste we get while watching it, concerns the lengths we go to find love, distancing us more and more from actually finding it. Society is the protagonist here, poisoning our sense of self-identity and leading us to self-discriminate, self-sensor, and ultimately self-deprive. The bitter taste it leaves us with, concerns the society we live in and shape, rather than the protagonists themselves: what can be done to alleviate the pressure of social stereotypes, especially for marginalised groups?
It’s difficult not to sympathise with both parties, ultimately realising that the enemy is societal conditioning itself, rather than our profound malicious intentions. The film has already been introduced to the public through various Festivals, while upcoming screenings are available. (...)"
"(...) Depois de uma noite entre amigos, Emily (interpretada por Rosie Carson) e Mia (Kirsty Nunn) chegam a casa e Mia percebe que a sua namorada está estranha. Depois de muito insistir, Emily acaba por revelar o que se passa e é a partir daí que o casal se envolve numa infeliz discussão.‘Bitter Taste‘ é uma curta que mostra mais uma vez como a sociedade ainda tem, infelizmente, influência perante a comunidade LGBTQ+ e como é difícil para a mesma viver a sua vida sem medo de represálias e olhares de terceiros.
Extremamente bem escrito, os 9 minutos passam a voar e somos facilmente absorvidos pela história, bem como facilmente nos conectamos com estas personagens. A química entre as duas atrizes é excelente e as duas entregam boas performances.
Enaltecer também a excelente fotografia. Cada shot é simplesmente deslumbrante, com uma paleta de cores bastante satisfatória. (...)
‘Bitter Taste‘ é uma curta que sabe a pouco e que nos faz querer mais.
"Bitter Taste is a short film centred on the relationship of two women. A seemingly innocent night out with friends explodes into the frank and brutal revelation of buried truths. The conversations felt genuine and the content relatable. For so many people, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community, the exchange between Emily and Mia would ring true.
Some of the more technical aspects that I enjoyed in Bitter Taste were the use of close-ups and lighting in the scene after the party. The purple hue, combined with the use of shots made a relatively normal setting much more aesthetically stimulating, it enhanced the tension between the characters and served as a reminder to the audience of its late-night, post-party setting. I thoroughly enjoyed the visuals of the final moments; the entrance of the title along with music on Mia’s reaction to Emily’s exit simultaneously concludes the end of the argument and the film itself. A clean ending that was appreciated.
A little bonus were the animations that followed with the credits; a nice touch."
