5 Stars - A Short Film

Hello, my name is Stefan Nachtsheim. I am one of the Producers of ‘*****’, a short film dissertation written and directed by Lorenzo Zorcolo at Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh.

Film Outline

The story follows Eve, an ambitious young trainee chef, during her first shift at the renowned ‘Pom’ restaurant. As her first task, the head chef sends her on a wild goose chase for a peculiar secret ingredient (*****).

The whole film was shot in one continuous long take without any hidden cuts in order to reflect the heat, time pressure and toxic environment of a busy kitchen.

Location

As filming location for the ‘Pom’ restaurant, we were fortunate enough to utilize the premises of the beloved L'Escargot Bleu for our extensive rehearsals and the subsequent shoot in the City Centre of Edinburgh.

Budget

We have calculated an overall budget of £2,500 for the film which we split into two parts: Production and the Film Festival Strategy.

The first part, viz. £1,500, went towards the costs of pre-production and the shoot. This included self-made props, set design (like kitchen utensils), costumes (like chef outfits) and hair and make-up (like tattoos). On top of that, we also covered the travel expenses and catering for the cast (including extras) and crew, totalling 55 people.

We already managed to secure the funding for those aforementioned production costs via two successful grant applications from the University and two bake sales.

However, we are still looking to fund the second part of our budget, that is £1,000 for the film’s run on the global film festival circuit in order to gain as much exposure as possible to international audiences.

Where will your funding go?

With your generous donations, we are hoping to submit our short film to 30 BAFTA and/or Oscar-qualifying film festivals around the world. We have divided our list of desired film festivals into three categories (A, B and C), ranging from prestigious ones, such as Venice or Slamdance (Category A), to smaller ones, like Bali or IndieCork (Category C).

The Core Team

Lorenzo Zorcolo (Writer and Director)

Lorenzo is a final-year undergraduate film student at QMU. His creative filmmaking work is a frequent audience-favourite by his lecturers as he has won several times the Silver Swan Award for the Best Student Film Project. On the side, he also runs his own photography business.

Ben Kay (Casting and Performance Director)

Ben is a final-year undergraduate Theatre and Film student at QMU. He is a versatile actor, writer and director. He has written, directed and performed in countless plays and short films over the last few years.

Stefan Nachtsheim (Producer)

Stefan graduated from QMU in 2023. Since then, he has worked as a production assistant on various feature films and TV shows for Sky Studios, Paramount Pictures and ABC. In 2022, he won the 48 Hour Film Project Edinburgh and his winning short Meat was consequently screened at the Filmapalooza International Film Festival 2023 in Los Angeles.

Ayo Adesanya (Producer)

Ayo holds a BA in English from Covenant University and a MSc in Digital Campaigning & Content Creation from QMU. He works as a researcher for the BBC in Glasgow. His latest short film Elsie was recently selected for the Tokyo International ShortFilm Festival.

Michele Masiello (DOP/Colorist)

Michele graduated from QMU in 2023. He has worked as a cinematographer on over 20 short films in the last few years. Recently, the short film Mercadante was selected by the Festival Nazionale del Cinema Europeo. Apart from this, he works as a freelance camera operator on international broadcast productions.

Douglas Rorrison (Sound)

Douglas graduated with a BSc in Sound Design from Edinburgh Napier University in 2024. He is a technically skilled Sound Recordist and Mixer who has already worked on feature length films, adverts for TV and social media campaigns across the UK and the USA.

Lead Characters

EVE played by Charlie Atkinson

A self-assured, young trainee chef at ”Pom”. Eve is constantly undermined by her fellow chefs and simply seeks to prove herself useful to the people around her. Capable, yet scared to mess up, she is the protagonist of our story.

HEAD CHEF played by James Keenan

A powerful, frightening figure in the kitchen. Clawed through the kitchen ranks through violence and terror and considers himself the supreme leader of the other chefs. A fearful boss and often intimidating to those around him, he is stubborn, sexist and is on a definitive power trip. He is the antagonist to our story.

Incentives for Donations:

With your generous donations, we will be able to execute our Film Festival Strategy after the completion of the post-production. All donations above £5 are thanked with various rewards. The more you donate, the more you receive. In order to be entitled to rewards, please donate with an email address you can be contacted by. If you wish to remain anonymous and/or do not want to receive any rewards, we would suggest donating anonymously.

£5 - You will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished.

£15 - You will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished. Also, you will receive exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Photos before its release.

£30 - You will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished. Also, you will receive exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Film Stills before its release.

£50 - You will receive a ‘Special Thanks‘ credit in the end credits of the film. Also, you will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished. Also, you will receive exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Film Stills before its release.

£75 - You will be credited as ‘Beneficiary’ in the end credits of the film. Also, you will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished. Also, you will receive exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Film Stills before its release.

£100 - You will be credited as ‘Executive Producer’ in the end credits of the film and on IMDb. Also, you will receive a Private Online Link to the film once the festival run is finished and exclusive Behind-The-Scenes Photos and Film Stills before its release.

Thank you for your support and we cannot wait to share the film with you. In the meantime you can follow our film us on Instagram.