SHRINE
October 17, 2023
On the eve of her 18th birthday, Natalie is held hostage by her teenage bedroom following the sudden breakdown of an intense friendship.
I am the writer director of SHRINE, and my goal with the film was to highlight the intimacy of female friendships and how they often toe the line between queer and platonic, as well as validating the intense emotions felt by teenage girls. Our society loves nothing more than to make teenage girls out to be frivolous and dramatic, and diminish their feelings down to nothing more than raging hormones. It really is gaslighting at a systemic level, and SHRINE aims to make the invisible visible, by representing the concerns, fears, despair and anger of teenage girls as something real, sinister and all-consuming. SHRINE is also a rumination on the role of the archetypal teenage bedroom, and how for many of us during our adolescence our rooms function as records of our own personal histories.
Aesthetically, SHRINE is campy, hyper-feminine and fits well within the realm of “bubblegum horror”. My key inspirations were Jennifer’s Body (2009), House (1977), Suspiria (1977) and Coraline (2009). To a lesser extent, I also drew from coming-of-age media like Ladybird (2017) as a reference for teenage bedrooms and the pivotal role they play, as well as Puberty Blues the series (2012) for it’s sun-drenched, Australiana vibe as I wanted my own short film to feel very local.
Working on this project I learned a lot about the collaborative and organisational side to filmmaking, and what preparation needs to be done prior to a shoot to make sure everything runs smoothly and on time, as well as how different roles intersect at different phases of production. Lots of micro-lessons were learned relating to continuity, coverage, test shoots and sound during this process that I’m sure will help me out next time I’m in the director’s seat!
– Charlie Stamatogiannis
