A black poster with a lone candle in the centre, lighting someone's cupped palms round it, with the title in orange above it, "The Flame". Director, writer and cast names given below the candle image and the tagline: "Catching light in the dark".

During lockdown, a call girl with a young son finds a connection with a lonely client via a series of video calls.

What's it about?

‘The Flame’ is a short film about loneliness in the first lockdown of 2020, the blurring of the personal and professional lines when working from home and the oddities and awkwardness of intimacy over video call. 

Read the shooting script

Development

Inspired by a BBC Writersroom call out in April 2020 in response to the first Covid lockdown in the UK, ‘The Flame’ was made in May of 2020, while still under the strictest of lockdown restrictions, meaning the cast and crew were all confined to our individual homes and it was not possible to film it traditionally, with a film crew present or with carefully selected sets/locations, etc. Despite this, we are proud of the resulting indie short and the story it tells.

Cast and Crew

  • Writer & Producer: Amelia Nashe
  • Director: Paul Barrie
  • Editor: Paul Barrie
  • Lena: Lauren Aviah Clarke
  • Grant: Euan Cuthbertson
  • Lena’s mum: Aileen Barrie
Pre-production meeting with the team - over Zoom, of course, in keeping with lockdown restrictions.
The script for 'The Flame' - cover page showing - with pens and highlighter lying on it and a glass of wine next to it.
Smoke machine
The script for 'The Flame', lying open, annotated, an orange pen, a pair of earphones and a keyboard next to it.
A promo post pic of a short tripod ideal for cameraphones, with a coming soon announcement and a joke about our lack of available film crew in lockdown.
A promo image, with a picture of the cast and crew, the director showing us a homemade phone holder over Zoom, with a commentary above the image about the lack of available tech in lockdown.
A promo image showing a picture of Lauren in character as Lena, with a bit about the character.
04.06.2020 Post Image 2

Watch the finished film below or...

Watch film on INDIE-CLIPS

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The Making Of

So what’s it like to make a lockdown short? Let alone a lockdown short with cooked food, copious amounts of alcohol stand-ins and a fire? Watch the interview below with the wonderful short film SVoD and educational platform, Indie-Clips, to find out.

Video provided courtesy of Indie-Clips.

Interviewer: Ambre Vanneste

A bit about Indie-Clips:*

Indie-Clips is a wonderful resource for indie short filmmakers across the globe. With their library of excellent short films and interviews with the directors of each film all  currently freely available via their website, it’s a fun, educational place to hang out. Plus their mission is to showcase up-and-coming filmmakers and give new/aspiring filmmakers practical tips and inspiration from the industry, so their heart is really in the right place.

Logo for Indie-Clips

*I am in no way sponsored or otherwise financially rewarded by Indie-Clips, I just love the work they are doing and wish to help promote it.