The world of Australian short film Soulmate could be set to expand after being selected to premiere globally on streaming platform Film Shortage.
The sci-fi thriller joins hand-picked shorts from across the world on the online film site, which is free to access.
It comes after a premiere at this year’s Flickerfest 2021, where it was awarded Best Cinematography.
Filmed across three days against the backdrop of a Bulgarian winter, Soulmate stars newcomer Holly May Lewis as Mila, a 13-year-old who plays a deadly game of cat and mouse in a world where overpopulation has caused a desperate law that forces citizens to kill their designated ‘Soulmate’.
The film was written and directed by Nik Kacevski (Skinford, Skinford: Chapter Two) as a proof-of-concept for an episodic show, with Christopher Seeto serving as producer.
Kacevski tells IF he is ready to explore the concept further, describing the short film as “a trigger” for the story’s potential progression.
“In the pilot, Mila is older and dealing with the consequences of her past actions,” he says.
“I decided to use the flashbacks from those moments and made it work as a consolidated and concise short film.
“It shows everyone the tone I was going for because it is quite specific to my style.
“We’re now in discussions with production companies regarding how a series would play out and what platforms it would be shown on.”
The Macedonian/Australian director says going back to Eastern Europe to film for the series “would be a dream”.
“I’ve always had an attachment to that part of the world and every time I spoke about this project, I would reference architecture from there,” he says.
“Shooting over there really helped the actors and the crew understand what we were trying to create.”
Kacevski is set for more international exposure in the coming months, having signed on to direct a psychological horror feature for Patriot Pictures in the US, which he expects to shoot in the middle of this year.