Dinner for Four
A Short Film by Regan Thomas and Alice Winter
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Technical Information
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Running Time: 6:46
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1
Exhibition Format: 2K Stereo DCP,
4K ProRes 422 HQ, 4K H.264
Sound: Stereo
Shooting Format: RED 4K
Language: English
Color
Logline
When Charles White, a fearful and abusive father, learns through a
conversation at dinner that his family plans to leave him, he must decide whether to make his family stay, by means of force if necessary, or risk losing them forever.
Synopsis
A nuclear family composed of a domineering father, a nervous mother, and two obedient children, sit down to have a seemingly perfect dinner. As the dinner continues, nerves build as the father gradually grows in anger towards his wife and kids for insignificant mistakes. A knock at the door halts everything as two policemen whisk the father away and the dining room is finally shown for what it is, the sight of three gruesome murders.
Director's Statement
When Regan contacted me about directing this piece that meant so much to her, I felt more than honored for her trust. Dinner for Four is a piece about a very important topic, and directing it leaded to connecting deeply with my own familiar structures, as well as the power structures that dictate society around us. It was a process of analysis of gender and the nuclear family and getting to know each of these characters in order to craft them on the screen involved a lot or research and reflection. Coming from a family that has long lost its traditional structures myself, it was impossible not to get personally connected to this narrative. Family shapes so much of the lives we lead, and I believe it’s time to challenge the ideas of what it is constituted of, and how far we should actually go to preserve a model that can sometimes do more harm than good. Dinner For Four has a very specific set of problems, but aims to be universal in its narrative and invite reflection on our own set of beliefs.