Attrition, Short Film, Review And Interview

In the trenches of WWI every man had to search deep within themselves to know who they are. Attrition explores the basic premise with a different twist of what if...

Attrition was screened at the 2019 FilmQuest film festival (website). It was nominated for Best Director (Kelly Holmes), Best Ensemble Cast, Best Cinematography (Alan C. McLaughlin), Best Production Design/Art Direction, Best Costumes. It won for Best Fantastic Short

Synopsis: A supernatural drama set in the British trenches of WWI. Along with the rest of his platoon, young Private Edwin Childs fears imminent German gas attacks. As the dreaded attack begins, how much will Edwin give of himself in the ultimate act of compassion towards his fellow men?

I recommend Attrition to those who like to explore mankind through a lens of a slightly different reality.

 

What was the inspiration for Attrition?

Attrition was originally an entry to a competition, and I was the runner up as a writer/director, and then it was developed with producers and our public funder in the UK. I was fascinated by WW1 and the stories told by the men that had a supernatural leaning to them. Attrition can be described as The Green Mile in the trenches, and follows a young naive soldier who is bullied, but he has much more to him than meets the eye, which we discover when the rest of the platoon get caught up in a deadly gas attack. It's the first time I've directed a war film, and this is definitely the largest production that I have done to date.

What project(s) do you have coming up you're excited about?

I'm currently being funded by BFI Network in the UK (our public funder) to do early development on a feature film called Year Of The Heart. Which is a menopausal body horror set in 1968 suburbia. It's a fascinating tale about a woman in her 50s that becomes obsessed with organ transplantation and suffers some very extreme menopausal symptoms that take her obsession to the next level. I also have a dystopian drama set in the very north of Scotland called Pestilencein early development as well about the last ambulance crew standing in the north who have to traverse a Black Plague ridden landscape to save their patient that they feel personally responsible for.

What was your early inspiration for pursuing a career in film?

Indiana Jones. I wanted to BE Indiana when I was a kid and I was genuinely p**sed that I was a girl not a boy. When I was 5 years old I thought I wanted to be an archaeologist so I could be just like him.... Took me a while to figure out that what I really wanted to do was make those sorts of characters and situations. As I grew up Kathryn Bigelow has been a constant source of inspiration and then Guillermo del Toro for his epic creativity.

What would be your dream project?

Gosh, many. Would love to just be able to make the 2 features I have in development at the moment. But one day I want to be making some kickass genre cinema. I'm a bit art house, a bit action, and a large slice of horror and sci-fi. So, anything in those realms would be amazing. I'd adore to make a horror space film, a horror in an asylum, and to be honest there's not been a really great film about the Kraken yet....

 

What are some of your favorite pastimes when not working on a movie?

I have a small obsession with vintage things...and also horror culture in general, including epic Halloween parties. And I was really into rock climbing until I seriously messed up my neck. I read a lot about magic and weird macabre things. My whole life seems to be attached to cinema in some way, shape or form, so it's difficult to keep a distance. Although my favourite thing really is spending time with my little cat Tilly.

What is one of your favorite movies and why?

Can I give you a list? I can't choose these things, it's a terrible Sophie's Choice situation. I'm just going to tell you what I've been revisiting recently and why. I've been watching Pan's Labyrinth again recently a lot. Although I've seen the film countless times, I'm particularly drawn to watching how del Toro manages to tell such emotional stories, because we even feel for his monsters. I really love that about his work as well has his boundless creative aesthetic, and that's all things I strive to be able to do in my own work in the future.

Find out more about Attrition and Kelly Holmes on the following

IMDb (link)

FB: https://www.facebook.com/attritionthefilm/
TW: https://twitter.com/attrition_film
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/300498127
Director website: www.kellyholmesdirector.com

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