WRITER / DIRECTOR / PRODUCER: PETER HEGEDUS
CO-PRODUCER: AMANDA KAYE
CINEMATOGRAPHER: FUNG SHING
EDITOR: SHIH-YIN JUDY YEH
SOUND DESIGNER: PETER KURUCZ
VFX - GABRIEL GARDENER
COMPOSERS: TIM PITCHFORD & BRENT HENSHAW
STARRING
WILL KELLY
as Henry
JANELLE BAILEY CURTIS HENDRICKX ROWAN HOWARD
SYNOPSIS
Henry has invented an app that will allow his family and loved ones to be together, always. But in the development process there are a few unforeseen glitches that no one could foresee.
STORY
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
PETER HEGEDUS
EMMI is a statement about our struggle for connection. It is about the struggle we all have to connect emotionally with the people around us in an increasingly digital world. As a father, husband and filmmaker, I believe COVID has only amplified this tension.
Smart phones have become our best friends, closest allies and confidants in an ocean of disconnection. They make us feel connected and in control especially in the uncertain times like we live in today especially when the use of smartphone apps and our mere online presence have never been greater. Our appetite for technology will continue to increase exponentially in a POST COVID WORLD.
This is when our story is taking place. It is in this environment that Emmi as an app is created by our protagonist Henry Turek. Henry is desperate for connection. He built Emmi during COVID to get closer to his family but this app soon becomes nothing short of a symbol of his own entrapment.
Our original visual style has been conceived to demonstrate this struggle and obsession. Our camera focuses almost entirely on the phone - Henry’s focus of obsession - as if we’re seeing everything from Henry’s POV. This film is a visual statement on an intensely emotional problem. It aims to take the audience into a world to FEEL and SEE the power of the smart devices and smart Apps, in our lives: crazy, seductive, obtrusive, loving yet chaotic
EMMI is trying to tell us what is yet to come in an uncertain post covid world.
PRODUCTION STILLS
REVIEWS
"Hegedus' film EMMI depicts a terrifying technological reality. One man's obsession for emotional connectivity becomes his potential undoing. A tense social commentary that holds a mirror to contemporary society's addiction to the consumption of images, memories and communication. "
BEN HACKWORTH (DIRECTOR OF "CELESTE")
“Your film is beautifully executed. I loved the way you shot it. The formalism of looking at the world through the frame of the smartphone is a fantastic idea, and really keeps us boxed in with the character's perspective. The scenes of Henry driving, while looking at his phone, filled me with concern and anxiety. Congratulations on a great film!”
MICHAEL CRAFT (DIRECTOR OF "STORAGE")
“From the outset I was excited by the concept of the film “EMMI”. To try and capture the challenges set by a technological world in today's attitudes to parenting and being "plugged in' is a daunting task, however, it is one that this film does a great job of capturing. To work as a creative with such a group of open and professional artists is truly rewarding as I'm sure the end product proves. These, I believe, are the stories we need to tell and I am privileged to be a small part of this one.”
ROWAN WOOD