Booked
15 mins | Comedy, Dark Comedy, Heist | Short film (2021)
She is crazy, she is obsessed with posting selfies on social media and she masterminds a heist at a bookmaker’s. But will she get away with it?
Director: Dimitry Devdariani
Writer: Mari Alexander
Cast: Mari Alexander, Pawan Sahni, Luke Foames, Doug Berry, Leroy Rogers, Richard K. Hill, Jemma Amos
An eccentric bored housewife masterminds a heist, enlisting her hapless nephew and his flat-broke friend. Her obsession with social media brings about unexpected results. This dark comedy captures the way social media alters our perception of others and even ourselves. BOOKED is about the risks some people are willing to take by exhibiting their lives; it illustrates how easy it is to get trapped in a narcissistic and miserable state by seeking virtual attention. Where should one draw the line between acceptable and excessive?
Dimitry Devdariani
The script presented a perfect challenge to me as a first-time film director. It is clearly satirical, yet dramatic and does not strictly fit into one genre. I particularly liked the fact that there is a suggestion that people are often led to crime by unfortunate circumstances, lack of family structure, or social opportunities. But shall we feel sorry for them, despite their wrongdoing? I believe that humour and grotesque are our good companions when we discuss serious matters.
Director: BOOKED is Dimitry Devdariany first film in the capacity of a film Director. Dimitry Devdariani was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. He has an MA in Comparative Anthropology. In 2002 Dimitry moved to London, where he studied Eurythmy; drama; acting at the School of the Science of Acting; theatre directing at Act Provocateur International (under Victor Sobchak). Dimitry works now mainly as a theatre director and to date has staged more than forty productions, which include: Antigone, Uncle Vanya, Little Tragedies by Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Kuprin’s Sorceress, A Morning with Guy Burgess by John Morrison, Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, Luigi Pirandello’s Man with the Flower in His Mouth. Dimitry has also worked in radio theatre, staged a musical, and has tried his hand in the film. He worked as a casting director on an award-winning film Perfect Baby. Dimitry is also a playwright and his plays The Window, Ear and Sunday Angel, A Spoonful of Sadness, The Storm will Sing for You, Colour Wrong, and Romantique were staged in the UK. Dimitry teaches acting at Academia Musica Nova and is the artistic director of Russian Classics Theatre London.
CREW:
Written by Mari Alexander
Directed by Dimitry Devdariani
Producers – Clarissa Itschert, Natalie Bell
1st Assistant Director – Ralitsa Lyubenova
Director of Photography – Miguel Cármenes
1st Assistant Camera for day 1 – Lluc Mestre
1st Assistant Camera for day 2 and 3 – Emily Rose Brown
Gaffer – Jakub Paczos
Location Sound Recordist – Bogdan Mecea
Script Supervisor –Tatiana Bell
Production Designer – Anna Dushenkina
Production Assistant – Katerina Kamysheva
Editor – Leroy Rogers
Original score – Leroy Rogers
Booked song – written and performed by Anonymi
Animation – Vasilisa Grebenshikova
Special thanks to – Galina Vasilyeva-Olsen
CAST:
Crazy – Mari Alexander
Cal – Luke Foames
Aaron – Pawan Sahni
Lucy – Jemma Amos
Driver – Leroy Rogers
Detective – Doug Berry, aka Andrew G. Ogleby
Policeman – Richard K. Hill
Behind the scenes
