When an ambitious female employee accidentally witnesses an inappropriate incident at work, she contemplates what to do with that secret.
In the era of the #MeToo movement, we still too often hear the sentence “but why did they not say anything?”. ‘Please Be Quiet’ highlights that particular aspect in an astonishing and marking fashion. Despite being a story that we unfortunately continuously hear, director William Adiguna is able to dig into the empowerment over shift that has kept victims quiet for so long – and still is in many places today. We caught up with William who’s given us a little more insight on his film.
Can you tell us what inspired you to bring this story to life?I am inspired to bring this story to life, due to the fact that even though we are all living in a post #MeToo era, the movement was not really felt in my home country (Indonesia) and I’m sure several other countries as well. I would like to explore this in my short film.
What was the most challenging scene for you to film?
The most challenging scene for me to film is the confrontation scene in the climax between Mr. Benny (the boss) and Sarah. I believe this scene to be very crucial as it is the meat of this film and it is very important to get the right emotion and exact performances I want from the two actors.
What has this film taught you about filmmaking?
Making this short film has taught me to step outside of my comfort zone, which involves me to do tons of research regarding the issue of sexual harrassment and the importance of choosing to prioritize performance over shot coverage, due to the limited amount of time and resources that we have to shoot this film.
What do you hope people will take away from Please Keep Quiet?
I hope this short film will generate more talks and discussions regarding sexual harrassments in Indonesia and other countries where there are still a lot of sexual harrassment incidents even after the #MeToo movement. I also hope more people will have the courage to speak up and encourage the government to be able to impose more strict laws and regulations regarding these incidents to prevent more from happening.
What are your favorite short films?
A lot! Some that came to mind are:
–A Reasonable Request (by Andrew Laurich)
–Happiness (by Steve Cutts)
–The Gunfighter (by Eric Kissack)
–The Piano Tuner (by Olivier Treiner)
–Emergency (by Carey Williams)
–Cream (by David Firth)
–More (by Mark Osborne)
–The Bloody Olive (by Vincent Bal)
–Over (by Jörn Threlfall)
–5 Films About Technology (by Peter Huang)
Which films you can say directly inspired this film?
The most challenging scene for me to film is the confrontation scene in the climax between Mr. Benny (the boss) and Sarah. I believe this scene to be very crucial as it is the meat of this film and it is very important to get the right emotion and exact performances I want from the two actors.
Making this short film has taught me to step outside of my comfort zone, which involves me to do tons of research regarding the issue of sexual harrassment and the importance of choosing to prioritize performance over shot coverage, due to the limited amount of time and resources that we have to shoot this film.
I hope this short film will generate more talks and discussions regarding sexual harrassments in Indonesia and other countries where there are still a lot of sexual harrassment incidents even after the #MeToo movement. I also hope more people will have the courage to speak up and encourage the government to be able to impose more strict laws and regulations regarding these incidents to prevent more from happening.
A lot! Some that came to mind are:
–A Reasonable Request (by Andrew Laurich)
–Happiness (by Steve Cutts)
–The Gunfighter (by Eric Kissack)
–The Piano Tuner (by Olivier Treiner)
–Emergency (by Carey Williams)
–Cream (by David Firth)
–More (by Mark Osborne)
–The Bloody Olive (by Vincent Bal)
–Over (by Jörn Threlfall)
–5 Films About Technology (by Peter Huang)
I would say ‘The Assistant’ and ‘Bombshell’, but in a more surrealistic / body horror approach?
