BREASTS OF STEEL - Female centric short film raises €1000 on first day

Writer/director of Unexpected Monsters Sophia Tamaro never thought that 20% of the crowdfunding goal of the short film would be raised in so little time. It’s a short psychological drama about a mother who stalks her estranged daughter as she shoots to fame. But the Berlin-based production has amassed followers across the globe, raising important questions about female-centric casts, crews and stories. Nevertheless, while it is not easy to find strong, like-minded people to be part of the crew, it’s
an even harder task not to come off as man-excluding. The crew is made up of talent from both genders, who have come from different corners of the world to create Unexpected Monsters.
The campaign is still looking for a lot of support, YOUR support.

For more information on the Indiegogo campaign, click here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/unexpected-monsters-short-film-drama/x/8056118#/

Our Facebook page with weekly feeds and info from behind the scenes, click here:
https://www.facebook.com/unexpectedmonsters/

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https://twitter.com/WeAreMonstersss

Cat Eyes Caught In Smoke

She stepped out of the crowded bar and onto the street. More crowds, gearing themselves up for a night on the town.
She sighed and walked a few more steps into the night.

There it was - her corner. She crossed her legs as she leaned against the cold brick wall.
It wasn't like her at all, but she rummaged through her bag and found the cancerous villains she had been avoiding since she stole them off the attractive coworker she snuck out to see any chance she got: cigarettes.
She magically found her old Breakfast At Tiffany's lighter too, the one she had promised herself was strictly for lighting candles and exes on fire.
Then there she stood in the light rain, smoking, for the first time in years.
She took a deep, toxic drag, eyes to the floor.

But a voice awoke her from her pensive trance. She looked up as the smoke curled in front of her eyes.
He stood on the other side of the road, outside another crowded bar.
They were apart, but his eyes locked into hers and for a moment the world stood still.
Only the smoke from her forgotten cigarette kept curling in the ever-changing space between them.

The Adventures of Elisabeth and Frederick - Part 3

"One of my favourite artists is coming to Berlin in about two weeks," said Elisabeth one night.
"Who's that?" Frederick replied.
"Escapade - he's this absolute sensation in the music world, he mixes all kinds of tones and genres into one huge visual and auditory experience. It's mostly things you can lift your arms to and dramatically sway from side to side. Or slow dance."
"Is that a hint?"
"I never hint. Will you come with me?"
"Of course I will. But you should know that us Berliners take our dancing very seriously."
"Can you teach me?"
"It can't be taught. It's just letting yourself be transported, as if you were floating in water and the strong currents moved you. Just like that."
"Sounds like pretentious bullshit to me."

They spent the concert never leaving each other's side. Frederick enjoyed himself immensely, and to Elisabeth's delight, he lifted her onto his shoulders when Escapade played her favourite song. They left themselves to be immersed in the mood and the sweat of the wild crowd and eventually, they shut out the world, remaining the only two people that mattered on earth that night.

Elisabeth often saw their relationship as an out-of-body experience. Sometimes, when they lay intertwined at night, or when she would watch him stack his books alphabetically in a shelf she had helped him put up, she saw them in their undeniable love bubble. It scared her, as she had been in another love bubble not long before she had chosen Berlin, and all the passion then had turned sour very quickly.
When Frederick had asked her to move in with him, Elisabeth said no. It was a choice divided between fear and the desire to maintain some independence. She had calmly explained this to Frederick, who had shrugged in a rather un-German fashion: they spent so much of their time together, why not make it official?
"Because then there would be no more mystery between us. We'll know the smallest, most insignificant details about one another, like how often you do your laundry or how long it takes me to brush my hair in the morning."
Her long hair was her pride and joy.

"I already know that," he replied without sulking. Instead, he reached over to her nightstand, grabbed her wooden comb and proceeded to brush through the reddish brown mane on the head of the woman he loved.

The Adventures of Elisabeth and Frederick - Part 2

Their adventures began with a spontaneous trip to Prague. They walked and explored every part of town and found people who would take their picture without running away with the expensive camera.
The weekend turned out to be far too brief, as these moments always are, but it left a lasting impression on both of them. Frederick realised that Elisabeth was a better traveling companion than anyone he had known before. When they fought, it didn't take long for them to forget or find a relatively diplomatic solution, usually one that would require no clothes at all and nothing but each other's embrace. Elisabeth understood that Frederick, unlike the boys and men she had known before, was the opposite of someone who liked to create unnecessary drama out of thin air. His jealousy episodes if one can call them that were tempered and overwhelmingly short. And more than that, he never gave her a reason to be jealous.
Their conversations deepened with time. They spoke of their absentee parents as well as the ones they loved very much.
Elisabeth told Frederick of her fear of being lonely and the difference between that and being alone. The latter she didn't mind. The former was something her loveless mother had settled on her. It wasn't good, but it was nevertheless a part of Elisabeth, one Frederick would learn to love.

With the passing of months, Frederick's need for Elisabeth grew. It never manifested itself through grand displays of meaningless declarations or through boundless despair when she turned out not to be where he wanted her. His affections became more frequent. A touch of his fingers against the warm skin of her neck, a soft kiss on her forehead when she slept or a deep sigh released into the forest of her long hair when their passion had been given into.
He adored her backside and she clawed in to his broad shoulders, as if they would save her from drowning.
It was not long until they fell into moments when all they would do was study each other. They craved to know the smallest and most intimate mannerisms of the other: the way their breathing slowed down when they had fallen asleep, how their neck strained after hours of work, how tension could be spotted in the way they wrote.

Little notes made their way into Frederick's pockets.
The most frequent one read: "I love you more than chocolate".

The Adventures of Elisabeth and Frederick - Part 1

E: The first time Elisabeth saw Frederick, he was standing at a ticket counter, chatting to a man with more tattoos than plain skin.
She looked twice. One of those rare moments when your eyes want to see what they have already seen again. A closer, deeper look - one that is needed should those eyes ever learn to love what is before them.
Frederick was a German of ancient Prussian descent, tall and built like the noble wardrobes of old. He wore a golden crown of thick hair on his head, reminiscent of his ancestry.
But what drew Elisabeth to him at first were his eyes. Bright green, like the freshly mowed grass on top of an untouched hillside.

F: Frederick had had a bad day. He was meant to go lose himself in the latest Hollywood blockbuster, something he did often and with great pride, but his friends cancelled their plans at the very last moment. He went all the same, even though the prospect of sitting alone in a dark room made him somewhat uncomfortable.
There at the ticket counter, he met Elisabeth. She too seemed to be on her own, yet much more comfortable with that fact than him. Elisabeth spoke first, something which Frederick would always cherish.
Holding up her ticket, she asked: "And you?"
He smiled: "Touché".

The film finished two hours later, but Elisabeth and Frederick did not go their separate ways until the early hours of the morning.

First, they fell in love with Berlin.. then with one another.

Caught Up With The Shadow

He almost didn't catch up with her.

Almost.

Scarlett heard him approach her before he had said a word. She turned back, suddenly icy again.

“Hi, hello,” he began breathlessly. “If this were a movie, you’d have given me your number in the time ellipses between shots.” He laughed, twirling his battered old cell phone in his hands.

Scarlett unabashedly looked him straight in the eyes.

The hope in his eyes almost faded away. As he opened his mouth, Scarlett-

“If you would like to ask me out, then ask me out properly. Even if your intentions are completely honourable and you just enjoy my company, do it like a man. Don’t hide behind the let’s get coffee sometime.”

She took a step closer to him, her eyes painfully penetrating his. But he couldn't look away.

“Be bold.” Scarlett took a deep breath and waited. This is where they all run and hide. The men today are nothing like they once were. They’re all cowards, hiding behind the “let’s be friends” or the “I don’t want anything heavy”.

“Are you always this friendly?” His feathers had been ruffled and yet he still looked… intrigued.

Scarlett was caught off-guard. For the first time in decades, Scarlett was caught off-guard. She had not lived this scenario out a thousand times before, she had no witty, deadly comeback, guaranteed to shut him down and make him go away. She was unprepared.

Scarlett let out a half-suppressed laugh. And then another, and another. She raised her eyes to meet his, finally emanating some warmth. She made no attempt to conceal the shining smile that followed.

“The thing is, if you’d like to see me again, I want to know that you want it above anything else in this precise moment. I'm not interested in a half-arsed attempt. If you want it, then show me that you do and how much.”

“Are you always this demanding?”

“I'm very demanding, yes, but this isn't it. Why would I spend a single instant of my time with someone who wasn't certain that he wanted to spend precious moments with me?”

Scarlett could see him processing her words quickly, trying to make a snap decision.

He cocked his head to the side, like he did in the cinema. Then –

“I think you’re interesting and I’d like to see you again.”

Scarlett kept her eyes fixed on him and extended a hand.

He took it with hesitation.

She blinked and through her smile, she softly said:

“Your phone.”

“Oh right. Yes.”

He handed it to her, shuffling his feet awkwardly. He looked to the ground, trying to conceal the little triumphant look on his face.

Scarlett typed her number and handed the phone back.

“Wait,” he said, as she began walking away. She stopped. “You haven’t told me your name.”

“No… I haven’t.” Scarlett smiled once more, finally turning away, and began her brisk walk to the tube station.

That was more than enough smiling for one day.

After The Second Film

“What did you think?”

His voice interrupted the post-film haze once again. Scarlett twitched with annoyance. This was one of the reasons why she went to the cinema by herself and never sat next to anyone.

After films ended, she always sat through the credits in silence, dreading the moment when the lights would be turned back on. They would drag her back to reality, kicking and screaming inside, parting once more with her true world, the reality that had been taken from her. She never liked to think about the fact that that world had never belonged to her completely. She was going to change that, once she had found what she was looking for. That would finally satisfy her and the thirst for recognition, the ultimate and sublime immortalisation in black and white. Scarlett took a deep breath.

“I think that it’s almost as disappointing as the first time I saw it.” In 1952, she silently added. “And now if you’ll excuse me-”

She wrapped her black faux fur around her neck, exposing her pale arms for a moment.

“You probably have somewhere to be, but listen-” he began, while Scarlett reached for her bag. “Give me your number, we’ll go for a pre-film coffee sometime.”

Scarlett turned around and, inexplicably, dazzled him with a smile.

“Why don’t you ring me at the end of the week and we’ll see…”

A promise lingered in the air between them. The man smiled back, surprised that he’d gotten her to gift him with a smile, and not a frosty one either. He searched his pockets for his phone, remembered something and turned to fish it out of his coat, lying over the seat in front of them.

When he turned back, Scarlett was gone.