Beneath, Between, Behind the Scenes: A Flock of Birds
M. Francis Enright is a filmmaker. His first short film, HR, was accepted into zero of the 23 festivals to which it was submitted. His second short film, The Routine, was nominated for Best Dark Comedy at the Georgia Comedy Film Festival. His third short film, Say Your Name, won Best Drama and Best Director at the Top Shorts Films Festival and has been selected for the 2024 Boston International Film Festival.
A guy walks up ragged. He’s in the streets. He watches us filming for a few minutes and then asks me what we’re filming.
I tell him it’s a short film and he asks what it’s about and I tell him it’s about a young man who is trying to be an actor and he goes on a lot of auditions etc. He says it sounds interesting and asks me where it will be shown, if he can see it.
I tell him I’ll submit it to festivals and see how it goes from there.
He nods and asks me if I can spare him some money. I said sure and gave him five dollars. I figure it buys me some goodwill in the neighborhood.
He says thank you and good luck.
I asked the cameraman to get a wide shot of the crew and the equipment from up the street, looking down the slope. This shot came at the end of the film when it was revealed that the lead character had actually been cast in a film and he had been playing a drug dealer.
A flock of birds flies overhead which is great for the shot but it doesn’t portend anything. It doesn’t matter to them that we were shooting a film or what it was about or that I had invested time and money to try and give my life some purpose.
It didn’t matter to them. Why would it? They didn’t have to worry about having a purpose. They find food and eat and take care of their young and survive. They have a destination. Why does there have to be any more purpose to life than that?
A flock of birds flew overhead which was great for the shot but it was only one shot in a short film which has received almost no attention.
A guy walked up ragged. He’s in the streets. He watches us filming for a few minutes and then asks me what we’re filming and I wonder if it really matters to him; if he really is curious or if that was just a warm up to ask me for money. If it was, I appreciate it.
He walked off. Maybe going to the clinic or the food bank or to buy drugs or booze. I don’t know. It didn’t matter to me.
He has a purpose. To survive.
A flock of birds flew overhead and it gave me hope. It shouldn’t but it did. It had nothing to do with me.
