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.

Watch the film above

Watch storyboard (with deleted scenes) below