Writer-directors Kat Butterfield and Daniel Audritt say their first short film, Life Goes On, is now qualified for consideration at the 99th Academy Awards and is BAFTA-qualifying.
The dark comedy is set in a hospice. Bill, a patient played by David Bradley, lives the same day again and again. The film uses that loop to talk about routine, isolation, regret and what still counts as joy when time is short. Butterfield drew on work in a Lancashire hospice. The pair paid for the film themselves with inheritances from relatives who both lived to 100.
Bradley, a BAFTA and Olivier winner, is widely known as Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films and Walder Frey in Game of Thrones. His other credits include After Life, Hot Fuzz, Doctor Who, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Frankenstein. Maggie Steed co-stars. Matt Berry, a BAFTA winner and Emmy nominee, also appears, with Tony nominee Amanda Root and a supporting ensemble that includes Mark Davison, Paul G Raymond, Jayne Aguire, Joe Da Costa, Brona C Titley, Ninette Finch and Laura Checkley.
Audritt and Butterfield are a U.K. comedy team whose Comedy Central series Modern Horror Stories and other sketches have drawn more than 500 million views, with work on BBC One and NBC. They have written for projects involving Anna Kendrick, Emma Thompson, Paul Rudd and casts from Stranger Things and Derry Girls. They were previously nominated for Debut Writer at the Edinburgh TV Festival New Voice Awards.
Andrew Carlberg is executive producer. Variety has listed him among Hollywood’s “New Leaders.” His credits include the Oscar-winning short Skin, Oscar nominee Feeling Through, Emmy winner Lalito 10 and North Star.
Life Goes On won the Grand Jury Prize for Best International Short Film at the Dallas International Film Festival, played Raindance in the U.K., landed in the top 10 at Hollyshorts and was selected for Manhattan Short. The filmmakers are available to talk about ageing, mortality and end-of-life care. Qualification means the short meets awards-entry rules. It is not a nomination.
