2.Main Content
Digi Shorts
Jesse Lawrence
Jesse studied Modern History at Oxford University. Here, he made his first short News On The March for original stage musical Jungletown. After working as Assistant Director on various stage plays in London, and Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, Jesse worked as Camera Assistant Trainee and then Editing Assistant Trainee on the BBC drama serial Seaforth. He then trained for three years at the National Film & TV School on the Fiction Direction course. His graduation film Runt, starring Sam West, was selected for numerous festivals around the world, including Cannes, and won ‘Best Film’ at Bologna and Brest. Since then, Jesse has worked mainly as a video director/ editor/ cameraman on documentaries and community films produced in the South West. He also edits audio-books for the BBC and is an occasional photographer for his local newspaper – the Bath Chronicle. Having enjoyed working in the field of documentary, Jesse is looking forward to getting stuck into some fiction again.
Jesse has been selected onto the Digital Shorts scheme by South West Screen with the project Isaac
The story tells of Daniel, a young man in his late twenties, coming to terms with the day his younger brother, Isaac, drowned whilst swimming in a river. Although no-one has ever directly blamed Daniel for what happened, he has always privately blamed himself. Pain, guilt and anger have dogged him ever since. And now, fifteen years on, his demons are threatening to overwhelm him for good. This is how he comes to be standing on the end of a pier about to plunge himself into the sea. However, as Daniel sinks deeper and deeper beneath the waves and as painful memories come flooding back to him, it becomes apparent that the water is forgiving. It is a place where the pain can dissolve and hurts can heal.