Quick Escapism is an independently produced short film submitted as my thesis for UCF. I stumbled on Sneha’s cover of “So This Is Love”, from the 1950 Disney film Cinderella, on Instagram, and I couldn’t get the image of two old women surrounded by the morning sunlight in their beds, just admiring each other. I had to tell the story of how love persists through all challenges with this song and through these characters.

I’ve had several people ask me why I chose to have the protagonists be women, which was a difficult question to answer for a while because, from the beginning, it just seemed natural for me to make them women. After listening to the song again after I completed the film, I realized it was because of Sneha’s solo performance. If it had been a duet between her and a male singer, it’s likely I would’ve had one of them be male. However, because Sneha sang it alone, I wanted the both protagonists to reflect her voice.

I decided to title it Quick Escapism because the films theme of domestic bliss is something of a fantasy for me. In the stresses of the modern day, it’s easy for people my age to be overwhelmed that they can never be able to afford a home, let alone a life where they can be happy. I dream, that one day, I’ll be able to live like the women in my film do; all they need is each other (and their dogs) and they don’t let stress get in the way of loving each other and being happy.