After a roadside accident a couple tries to mend their fragile relationship.
SUMMARY
BRUISED FRUIT TASTES SWEETER is a short film about a couple grappling with their dwindling affection for one another.
When we meet Jon and Miguel, their relationship is teetering on the edge, perhaps doomed to collapse. However, a horrific incident on the road sows the seeds of reconciliation, and their intimacy is momentarily restored in the wake of a shared secret.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
This film was born out of questions rather than answers – questions I’ve found myself grappling with in recent years, tracing their roots back to a series of relationships that have come to be defined by loss, betrayal and shared trauma. Yet all the while, intermingling with this darkness is an immense, confusing love.
This conundrum became my access point when writing BRUISED.
How can darkness and trauma form connective fissures? How can intimacy be gorgeous yet ugly? How can we struggle to connect, despite our intense desires to do so? In these few pages, I thrust my protagonists into this confusing tug of war with the hopes of better understanding my own experiences with intimacy, trauma, and forgiveness.
Similar to Jon and Miguel, love has become a paradoxical force in my life, causing me to shift the rules and codes I live by. BRUISED is a reflection of this sobering realization, and I hope to have the chance to deliver audiences to a similar truth.
VISUAL & TONAL REFERENCES
Below are some of our favorite films and references that have come to inspire the look and feel of BRUISED. Our team is working together to build a dark and moody world, grounded by natural light and human performances.
PREVIOUS WORK
MONSTER, my last short film premiered at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn, NY as part of their 2019 Shorts Festival, was featured on Kentucker Audley’s NoBudge and later selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick. I am excited that BRUISED will be made by the same team of filmmakers – check out MONSTER below!
TIMELINE
PRE-PRODUCTION | October 2019
We’re currently in the midst of prepping for production, locking in casting, locations, and assembling our crew.
PRODUCTION | November 2019
We will shoot our film over three days in upstate New York and Park Slope, Brooklyn.
POST-PRODUCTION | December 2019 – Feb 2020
Our post team is assembled and ready to complete a cut in time for festival deadlines in early 2020.
FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS | Feb 2020 to Dec 2020
We plan to submit to top tier film festivals including Cannes, Berlinale, SXSW and Sundance.
PREMIERE | Mid 2020 / Early 2021
Our goal is to premiere at a film festival in 2020 and following that share it online for everyone to enjoy.
FUNDING
We’re looking for additional funding to help take our story from page to screen. Your contribution will allow us to actualize our collective vision, helping pay for crew labor, meals, location fees and equipment. All these sort of things add up when you make a film so even the smallest amount helps pay for someone’s lunch or metrocard swipe.
Take a look at our donation levels and perks and please consider contributing!
THE TEAM
Jake Kolton is a filmmaker living and working in Brooklyn, NY. Hailing from the midlands of Indiana, Jake is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts where he studied Film and Art History. Following graduation, he directed the short film, MONSTER, which premiered at Nitehawk Cinema, was featured on Kentucker Audley’s NoBudge and later chosen as a Vimeo Staff Pick. He is currently directing a short film series that explores cinematic gestures as micro narratives and is in development on his first feature film.
CORY FRAIMAN-LOTT – director of photography
Cory Fraiman-Lott spent his youth cleaning his room and watching Ricky Martin music videos on VHS. Shortly after his parents’ divorce, Cory decided to swear off love altogether and focus solely on cinematography. In the proceeding years, he has applied his eye for aesthetics to numerous award-winning works featured in such festivals as Sundance, Tribeca, and Palm Springs International. Most recently, his feature length documentary “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” premiered on Netflix and was short listed for an Emmy nomination in the category of “Outstanding Cinematography For A Non-Fiction Program.” Under the supervision of a friendly WitchDoctor™, Cory hopes to subject his body and mind to feature filmmaking for the rest of eternity.
Casey Bader is a producer and the director of development at Alec Baldwin’s El Dorado Pictures where he executive produced Danny Madden’s feature debut, BEAST BEAST, Anthony Baxter’s feature documentary, FLINT and Francisca Alegria’s forthcoming feature debut, THE COW THAT SANG A SONG ABOUT THE FUTURE. Bader produced Matthew Puccini’s latest short, LAVENDER, which was acquired by Fox Searchlight and premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
NICOLE QUINTERO OCHOA – producer
Originally from Mexico City, Nicole is now a Line Producer at RadicalMedia. There, she has worked on the production of multiple TV Documentary Series including Abstract: The Art of Design Season 1 and 2, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, and Oprah’s Master Class Season 6. She has worked with clients such as NASA, PBS, Showtime, and Netflix. Nicole has produced multiple award winning short films, including Joosje Duk’s NIGHT. In 2019, she produced the short film SOFT in collaboration with a Sundance Ignite Fellow, and UNION with a Jacob Burns Creative Culture Fellow, both of which are in post-production. During her time at NYU, Nicole was co-director of the Fusion Film Festival, a student-run film festival that celebrates women in Film, TV and New Media, and an Allie Partner of the Women in FIlm/Sundance Women’s Initiative. Nicole is currently in development of her first feature film, Sunshowers, with writer/director Joosje Duk.
Eli Raskin is a producer and production manager specializing in music videos and narrative films. Raskin co-produced Danny Madden’s feature film debut BEAST BEAST based on their SXSW award winning short KRISTA. Raskin’s music video collaborators include Megan Thee Stallion, Goldlink, Labrinth & Ben Platt.
THANK YOU
Thanks for the taking the time to learn about our film…and for reading to the bottom of this page! We appreciate you taking the time to learn more about BRUISED, and hope that you’ll consider donating to help bring this project to life. We can’t do it without you!
There is an inherent risk in filmmaking; however, we are dedicated team of creative professionals who are passionate about this film and feel an urgency to tell this story.
Thank you for becoming a member of our team!