This weeks new short film offering from Collabor8te is a story of an unlikely friendship between an old Congolese man and a young runaway, ’Truth About Stanley’ directed by Lucy Tcherniak.
Congratulations on a fine film. Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired the story?
Thanks! It started with a conversation with my co-writer Neil. We were discussing what happens to a homeless person when they die on the street. It was a question that neither of us really knew how to answer so it instantly intrigued us. As for Stanley himself, I’ve always been fascinated by people who are compulsive storytellers, and also by people who lie to themselves and to others to make them happy. I suppose Stanley’s character grew from an amalgamation of those interests.
Did you always decide to frame the action from the perspective of a young boy?
Well I think what we found interesting about friendships that are forged on the street, is that they can happen between two people who would never usually meet under any other circumstances. We wanted to create a character that was the polar opposite of Stanley in many ways, but whom he connected with through this shared experience. As we wanted Stanley to be a storyteller, it just felt appropriate that Sam should be a young boy, and to frame the story from his perspective seemed an interesting angle on the subject. I find it intriguing to view things through a child’s eyes.
This film was made in association with The Big Issue Foundation – can you tell us how that relationship developed and what role they played during the making of the film?
Yeah the Big Issue Foundation came on after the script was written. My producer saw the opportunity of getting them involved so that we could raise some money for a good cause at the same. Its quite rare you get to do that as a filmmaker, and I think we’ve raised quite a few thousand so I’m really pleased we did! They were wonderful, and completely trusting so I maintained complete creative control .
Read more of the interview on Collabor8te website.
