Sam Hu’s Last Day
Directed by Philip Shih
Co-Written and Produced by Guy Malim
Dystopian Romantic Comedy. 19mins. NYC, 2019.
Love in a time of efficiency.
NYC in the future is a terribly efficient place, thanks to EVA; your personal assistant. EVA streamlines your life so you can focus on your goals, monitors your health and even finds you your perfectly compatible mate.
What happens when you’re not seeking compatibility but chemical connection?
Sam Hu is the human face of EVA’s streamlining plan; he delivers severance packages but tomorrow he will be promoted.
A chance encounter with an incompatible woman sends Sam spiraling; ultimately questioning whether sometimes it is best to take the scenic route.
Sam Hu’s Last Day, boasting a stellar comedic leading turn from James Kyson, deals with themes of automation, AI intelligence and human loneliness but maintains it’s playful, comedic, insistently romantic tone.
Love finds a way.
The Name Escapes Me
Directed by Humphrey Gibbs
Co-Written and Produced by Guy Malim
Psychological family drama. 19mins. LA, 2019.
Me, myself and my family.
Anthony Tyser has a schizophrenic history. As the only child and the “diagnosed patient” of the family, all eyes are on him. But Anthony knows all is not well in the Tyser household.
And now a girl, a family friend, is missing.
Anthony hides untaken medication where he knows his mother will find them and tells his father he is going to see an old friend whom he knows his father doesn’t believe is even real. He tells his mother an opposing story about this old friend being angry and how he used to date the missing girl.
And then Anthony plants the missing poster.
Anthony allows his family first on him, and ultimately on themselves.
A claustrophobic story caught in the cracks of stubborn people who finally crumble. A father, who has blamed his diagnosed son for too long, is brought to familial justice.
Till Death Do Us Part
Directed by Robert Van Halteren
Co-Written by Guy Malim
Dark Comedy. 12mins. Netherlands, 2016.
A raucous euthanasia comedy.
Her allergies are getting worse and he still can’t dress himself properly at 82. So they take a pair of fatal pills. It’s almost romantic but they don’t have the energy for a final kiss.
But she wakes up, spits out the poison and shimmies downstairs. She grabs his life insurance and her pre-packed holiday bag. Ready for her cruise of a lifetime.
Upstairs, he pushes the pill out of his mouth, reaches for a dog collar and trots downstairs straight into his shockingly vital wife.
They blame faulty pills but have freedom tasted - The other must be gone. What follows is a cornucopia of traps and tricks involving tweaked stairlifts, walkers and floorboards.
In the excitement of near death scrapes and through a renewed vitality comes a remembrance of love.
Alas it’s too late for these pill crossed lovers, each try to save the other, switching traps and finally finding death.
Then doorbell rings, a gorgeous young woman barks.
Syndrome Stockholm
Directed by Eduardo Alcivar Gonzalez
Written by Guy Malim
Psychological Mystery. 15 mins. NYC, 2016.
Stockholm Syndrome in reverse, in reverse.
A story that unspools backwards and we track time through a cut on her lips.
We meet the lovers running in the NYC streets towards a crossroads. A fiery argument breaks out.
Then, they are lovers and her lip has a deep red scab of a deep wound. They dream of escaping before he leaves and locks the door.
Her top lip is covered in a delicate scab. He reassures her that they are in this dreadful situation together. . She kisses him softly.
Her lip is split open and she clutches a makeshift knife behind her back. He unwittingly foils her knife attack and she kisses him.
Her lip is a pulpy mess. He tends her wounds.
She has a sack over her head, gasping for air. He stands over her, and promises an aggressive third presence that he will kill her. Instead, he knocks her out and fires two shots into the ground.
Ipseity
Directed by Eduardo Alcivar Gonzalez
Written by Guy Malim
Psychological Thriller. 10 mins. NYC, 2010.
Super power or schizophrenia?
Mason can see the flower bloom just from its bud. When he touches someone, he can feel their intentions. Or he’s just zoning out?
He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, first by his mother and overbearing brother and finally by a psychiatrist.
His mother discovers hidden pills and confronts Mason, who runs away. He seeks solace in the minutia of the labels on soft drinks but he senses are in overdrive. He sees an unpreventable tragic fate; blood, bathtub. He recoils in horror.
In a dark silent park, Mason senses his brother’s energy suddenly draining away. Mason bolts through the night streets.
Mason dials an ambulance as he runs down dark alleyways, where he sees his brother and then two hooded attackers with knives.
Mason cries out. His alerted brother fights back but is stabbed multiple times before the attackers flee. Mason holds his bleeding brother, as the ambulance arrives.