This week’s short film is titled A King’s Betrayal, and it tells the story about the final days in the life of a Piñata, told from the Piñata’s perspective. This is actually a great film with a unique perspective.
The movie comes from director David Bornstein. This short film is shared in collaboration with the FilmQuest Film Festival, where we are looking to expose some of the radical indie genre films and shorts that filmmakers are creating.
I also included an interview with the director that you can read below!
What was the inspiration for your film? How did you come up with the idea?
“I went to the University of Arizona, as did my good friend and the screenwriter of this project Ari Grabb. In Tucson we have this wonderful theater called The Loft Cinema, and at the first friday of every month they hold an event called First Friday Shorts, a local free for all where local filmmakers enter anything they made under 15 minutes for a cash prize.
“Ari and I frequented and competed in FFS often. On a night Ari was there, he saw a short that opened with a shot of a Piñata over some voiceover. He got excited, thinking he was about to see an art film about a Piñata, but it was quickly revealed to not be that at all.
“So Ari wrote the script Piñata art film that he wanted to see, which was also heavily inspired by Ramin Bahrani’s incredible short film Plastic Bag. Ari told me about this on a road trip from Tucson and LA, and told me if I ever found the money I could direct. By chance I was introduced to Andres Avalos and the wheels only kept turning from there.”
What was your favorite part of the filmmaking process for this project?
It’s a toss up. Every day on set was an incredible feeling, making this was so much fun. But also seeing this film come together in the edit was very special, especially composing the original music with Gabe (Acosta, our composer).
What are you most proud of with this film?
“I could cite many things that I’m proud of, but one accomplishment does stand out from the rest, at least for me. I did find out several months ago that this film is being shown in a class at a very prestigious film school every year for the past few years.
“If you had told me that all these years ago that this shit was going to be shown to the next generation of filmmakers as an example of the medium I never would have or could have believed that.”
What is a favorite story or moment from the making of the film you’d like to share?
Honestly I think when I hit up Adrian Gomez, a good friend of mine to voice our main character, I kept it very casual. We had a session that last a half hour and then we went and got burgers after. Neither of us had a clue the lengths that this film was going to travel.
What was your most challenging moment or experience you had while making your film?
The birthday scene definitely got a bit stressful. Our child actors playing the party guests got super energetic, to the point that it began to eat into the small window of time that we had them for. Thankfully we were able to get what we needed in the end.
If it did, how did your film change or differ from its original concept during pre-production, production, and/or post-production? How has this changed how you’ll approach future projects as a result?
“I think when I first envisioned this it was in black & white and had a similar pacing to Y Tu Mama Tambien. But honestly I’m glad those went to the wayside, the film has so much more of its own identity without these aspects. Also, I was not expecting that we would get an actually Piñata store to film in.
“I had no idea where we were going to shoot the opening scene, we had $0 for locations. My producers Andres and Ahmed found Amazing Piñatas through their fraternity connections and the owner graciously let us have the run of the joint for half a day., I couldn’t imagine how we could have filmed anywhere else.”
Who were some of your collaborators and actors on the film? How did you start working with each other?
“My producers Andres and Lily (Avalos), and Ahmed El-Mawas were key to getting the ball rolling, their willingness to take a chance on me and this ideas was something I’ll always be grateful for.
“Likewise, I’m grateful for Ari for trusting me wit his script and giving me his blessing to make it my own. Roxy Ferenz, my friend and AD, took on so much to keep this going. My editor Trevor Davies, for pushing this thing through as fast as we could and cutting everything perfectly.
“From day one, I knew Adrian Gomez was going to be my Piñata, and he absolutely delivered. Bryson Robinson, our King, submitted through our online casting call, he’s a gifted young performer and his career is going in awesome places, grateful to have had him in our film.
“With the exception of our ‘Birthday Monsters’ and he King, the remainder of my cast came from different parts of my personal life (Improv class, high school, and film school), and grateful to them all for showing up to be apart of this film, it has become something truly special.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received as a filmmaker and what would you like to say to new filmmakers?
I’ll stick with my answer from the previous interview because it bears repeating. I’d actually give two pieces of advice because they go hand in hand here: watch as much as you can,and always focus on what was done right even if this film you’re watching isn’t good. My advice to new filmmakers; practice patience. On-set, and in your career path, this quality will serve you in more ways than one.
What is your next project and when can we expect to see it?
“I’m currently in post-production for my next short film Zits! We’re still in the process of securing finishing funds, but we are aiming to complete Zits and push it out into the film festival circuit no later than early next year.
“For updates specific to Zits, you can follow our Instagram page @zitsthefilm . Alternately you can follow us on our Seed & Spark page ( https://seedandspark.com/fund/zits ) to get the same exclusive updates that we give to our donors.
“And what the hell, if you would be so kind as to donate to our film our CashApp is $ZitsTheFilm . We would be greatly appreciate you generosity and absolutely give you a shoutout in the credits”
Where can we find more of your work and where can interested parties contact you? Do you have a website or YouTube/Vimeo channel?
I can be reached anytime through my Instagram page @dabornstein . I do have a Vimeo channel as well where I host most of my work. https://vimeo.com/davidbornstein/
Enjoy the short film below!
