A FILMMAKER from Southend is hoping his most recent project has captured the “essence and beauty” of the city as it heads to film festivals this summer.
Daniel Keeble has lived in Southend all of his life and his quietly moving new short, A Smile For Her, marks a departure from his previous work.
Using no dialogue and made with a local cast and crew, the film follows a metal detectorist as he searches Chalkwell’s mudflats for a lost and very sentimental item.
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“I’ve lived here all of my life and often when I’m on the seafront I’ll see the odd lonely figure out metal detecting on the mudflats,” said Daniel.
“It’s always inspired me, and I find the image to be really cinematic.”
For the past decade and a half, Daniel has been making his own short films and working on other filmmakers’ projects.
However, A Smile For Her marks his first foray into drama, having previously focused on horror and thrillers.
“With this film, I wanted to create something that my Nan would want to watch and stay away from the genre films I’ve typically made,” he said.
“It’s a really simple, easy to follow concept that has been inspired by Pixar’s short films – which also don’t have any dialogue but are still emotionally rich and very understandable.”
Filmed between November and March on Chalkwell’s mudflats, the film paints a visually bleak but emotionally rich picture of Southend’s coastal landscape.
Having premiered at the Romford Film Festival over the weekend, the short will be shown to a south Essex audience at Southend Film Festival on Saturday June 7.
From Daniel’s perspective, Southend is packed with talented creatives who are not held back by a lack of funding or mainstream opportunities.
He said: “There’s a great creative community in Southend and the surrounding areas and whether it’s art, music or filmmaking, there are so many people out there just making things.
“They’re not waiting around for big Hollywood funding.”
A Smile For Her was written and directed by Daniel. It features local actor David Streames, alongside Charlotte Luxford and Linsey Turner. It was produced by Alice Ryan, with camera work by Mark McCarthy and musical score by Andrew Hind.
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