The Plumber Film Spotlight
Today’s film spotlight focuses on the short film The Plumber directed by Cate Carson.
What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?
“The Plumber” was inspired by Irena Sendler who, along with her netowrk, helped to rescue over 2,500 Jewish children from Warsaw during WWII. One of her many schemes involved posing as a plumber to infiltrate the Warsaw ghetto.
Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.
This film is an adventure/suspense short about how the courageous act of one person can make a big difference. As curfew approaches, we follow Irena, posing as a plumbing specialist, through the shadows of Warsaw. She risks it all in a smuggling operation, but the pressure of Nazi-occupied Poland looms ever closer and her bravery is put to the test when she encounters a German pilot with a sense of duty.
A couple of years ago, we had saved the anecdote seen in the film as a potential future idea after seeing a small blurb saved in Pinterest. Fast forward to the pandemic, and after having to shelve a few projects, Irena’s story resurfaced. Because of the circumstances, we were challenged to take a piece of that idea to keep the overall production contained both in scope and time, and still pack in as much narrative as we could tell.
Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?
Oh there’s always a lot of influence from the movies we love, but definitely films and filmmakers who have the ability to tackle heavy subject matter with a wondrous and adventurous spirit. Music was also largely influential, and for this we referenced, amongst others, John Williams, James Horner, and Alan Silvestri.
What is the goal of the film for you?
Right now we all need a little hope with everything going on. There are a lot of unsung historical heroes that nobody knows about, who made a big difference in people’s lives. In present day, it’s important for us to remember there’s also a lot of good being done, and history being made. And you don’t have to be a politician to make that happen. You can be anybody. We need films of all kinds to inspire us.
It was also a goal to create a solid short that showcased our abilities and helped get us on a path of making feature projects. We squeezed as much narrative, tone, and production value into as short a film as possible to capture the attention of executives/producers/reps in what little time they have to spare. We know how daunting it is when someone sends even a 15 minute short, knowing you have to set aside real time to watch it, and the whole goal was to get as many people to watch it as possible. 6-7 minutes felt like a better ask.
What has the journey been like getting the film into production?
The development of this script was obviously affected by the limitations of the pandemic, and we went into it knowing we needed a longer pre-production period to not only plan, but handcraft or distress props and costume pieces. On our heaviest production day, we had a total of 9 people on set including cast with an average of 6 on the other days so it had to be really planned and streamlined. And story-wise, we needed to bring the audience up to speed quickly in terms of understanding the situation and the stakes, but we also needed a story that could lean into situational suspense with minimal characters, rather than action and VFX. Beyond that, we largely leaned on the help of friends who believed in the project and wanted to make something when we were all creatively starving, and changed our normal approach of a larger crew back to our early days of filmmaking where we took on multiple roles. The biggest challenge was in finding the locations that would sell this environment and era, and really fought for a couple of them because they were integral to the story. Post production was another challenge in learning how to work remotely, as many others have had to do.
One thing you learned from this project?
How many incredible and heroic people out there have stories waiting to be told. Our short film offers only a brief glimpse into the harrowing escapades of Irena and her team – they went in every single day knowing there was a risk of death or capture. It’s a story that’s gone largely unknown and that’s just a real travesty.
How can folks find you and your film online?
It will be premiering on FilmShortage.com on February 16th.
You can also check out more on our official website.
Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?
When you get in over your head trying to do too much because of the future filmmaker within yourself, it will show. Be mindful of resource limitations and try to work with them in creating a film that can be made well, but then go one level above that. Push yourself to be better and learn more. Every film you make, and even a film made, is better than not making anything at all.
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