Sophia Banks' Sci-Fi short Unregistered enjoys a successful run at Tribeca Film Festival
The latest short film from director Sophia Banks has just premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, where it had four screenings as part of the Shorts: Down to Earth program, in which six Sci-Fi shorts ‘explored the "gravity" of the situation’.
Unregistered follows a new couple (played by Trevor Jackson and Dylan Penn) navigating analog and digital connections in the not-too-distant future of a dystopian Los Angeles, where a big brother regime restricts individual freedom, including limiting each household to one child.
The Film is visually striking. Sophia Banks teamed with DP Paul Cameron, ASC (Westworld, Man on Fire, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales), VFX producer Ivy Agregan (The Revenant, Birdman), consulting VFX supervisor Christoph Roth (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lion King (live action)), to create an in-camera virtual reality experience in which images were projected onto the inside of a 360 giant lampshade-shaped configuration, consisting of panty hose-like material. Actors could be situated within this structure, seeing and reacting to projected original imagery, as if they were in the midst of an immersive experience. Cameron could in turn shoot through the lampshade material, capturing these interactions.
With a background in fashion, design, visuals, branding, and extensive work as a commercial director, Sophia has studied at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, UCLA and The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her short, Making It On Time, for Christian Siriano, won Film Fest Miami and was nominated for over 15 awards including Best Short, Best Fashion Film, and Best Director at HollyShorts and Tribeca Film Festivals, Los Angeles Film Awards, and Berlin and Milano Fashion Film Festivals. She has directed award-winning commercials for brands like Pepsi, BMW, Target, Doritos and Ford, and fashion films for Pam & Gela, Valentino, Ralph and Russo, Fred Segal and GenLuxe Magazine.
Unregistered will next screen at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival, on the 18th, 20th and 21st of May as part of the Shorts Programme Four. Keep an eye out for more screenings at a film festival near you, this is one not to be missed.
