Online Shorts Fest with Greg Kennedy

LIRIUM

We are pleased to announce the next film in our Online Shorts Fest line-up, LIRIUM, written and directed by Gregory Kennedy. 
Check out his film here.

Greg went to the University of Tennessee for creative-writing.  He has been writing for ten years, but started directing around six years ago.

What drew you to wanting to tell this story?  The story originated from a scene I had thought out, but there was no real premise and conflict happening to the characters.  With any story—no conflict—no drama.  Then my writing partner had discovered this documentary on this drug from Columbia called “Devil’s Breath.”  After watching this documentary and learning that it has made its way to the States, and realizing no one had ever heard of it, I thought this drug could be a great way to tie the story together, along with educating the audience.

What were some of the challenges in getting this film made and how did you overcome them? With most independent-shorts, the first issue is always money.  We were fortunate enough to find a talented group of cast and crew who worked for free, allowing us to put the little bit of money we had into renting equipment.  Other than the money issue, we ran into small technical issues here-and-there, but like most filmmakers, you develop a plan A, B, and C in pre-production, so when you get to production you can scrap all those—cause you realize none will work—and then go with plan D.

To read more about Greg, check out the rest of his interview at FilmYoda.