Roberta’s Living Room
A magical-realist short film about a woman planting a garden in her living room… in pursuit of the most ideal death!
Executive Producer | Ursula Romero
Writer/Director | Judy K Suh
Producers | Grace Hahn & Judy K Suh
This short film was a combination of influences: an image by photographer Gregory Crewdson, a fact I learned about plants breathing in oxygen at night, Magical Realist author Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s works… and a number of elements from my personal life.
A long process of writing and rewriting the script took place before anything happened. It wasn’t until 2016, after I won a screenplay contest, that I decided I’d seriously pursue making this short film. Of course, this had to be done completely independently.
By some mighty strike of luck, I was at FEST film festival in Portugal, where I met and pitched my short film to Ursula Romero. She eventually became the executive producer for it. In 2017, with an amazing cast, crew and post-production team, I was able to bring this story to life. By 2018, the film was complete, followed by an amazing run in film festivals around the world during 2018-2019.
The film is now under distribution deal with Spanish company, FEELSALES.
Director of Photography | Herman Asph
Production Design | Julia Carusillo
Garden Design | Zac Hall
Editor | Stacy Moon
VFX Supervisor | Anj Puglise
Costume Designer | Jessi Sheehan
Composers | Kelly Pratt & Perrin Cloutier
Production manager | Delwyn Harris
Casting | Paskal Rudnicke Casting, Inc.
Sound design & mixing | Periscope Post & Audio
Color Grading | Company 3
Cast
Jane Baxter Miller
Michael Edward Cohen
Matthew C. Yee
Elisa Shua Dusapin
Kelly Pratt
Perrin Cloutier
Kayla Griffith
Isabella Gerasole
David Brown
Courtney Green
Elanna Green
Michael Goldbert
Awards
41º FICSAN. Cádiz, Spain
- Special Jury Award for Best Short Film
- Special Jury Award for Best Music
2019 LUSCA Fantastic Film Festival. San Juan, Puerto Rico
- International Short Film Award
- International Audience Choice Award
2019 IBICINE - Ibiza Film Festival, Spain
- Best Foreign Short Film
12º Festival Internacional de Cine de Islantilla. Huelva, Spain
- Best Production Design
7º Hrizantema Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. Serbia
- Best Film Music
21st Shanghai International Film Festival
- Nominated for Best Short Film
NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth)
- Best Screenplay
Screenings
World Premiere at Shanghai International Film Festival on June 21, 2018
US Premiere at Austin Film Festival, October 2018
15th Sedicicorto Film Festival, 2018
Femme Film Showcase, Chicago 2018
41st Films de Femmes, France 2019
12th Cairo International Women’s Film Festival, Egypt 2019
15th LA International Women’s Film Festival, US 2019
39th Fantasporto Film Festival, Portugal 2019
12th Cairo International Women's Film Festival, Egypt 2019
26th Dead by Dawn International Horror Film Festival, UK 2019
Semifinalistas at IBICINE - Festival de Cine en Ibiza, Spain 2019
19º Radio City Short Film Festival. Valencia, Spain 2019
13th Reel Shorts Film Festival, Canada 2019
21th Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Japan 2019
41º FICSAN. Cádiz, Spain 2019
12º Festival Internacional de Cine Bajo la Luna de Islantilla, Spain 2019
IV Galapán Film Festival, Spain 2019
Dumbo Film Festival, New York, US 2019
10º Festival Internacional de Cinema de Cerdanya. Girona, Spain 2019
43º Open Air Filmfest Weiterstadt, Germany 2019
41º Jornadas de Cine y Video Independiente UNCIPAR, Argentina 2019
10. FANGOFEST AMPOSTA (Amposta. Tarragona) Spain 2019
16º DC Shorts Film Festival. Washington, US 2019
VisuElles film festival, Ottawa, Canada 2019
13th LUSCA. Festival Internacional de Cine Fantástico del Caribe. Puerto Rico
EL CUERVO. Certamen Int. Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, Spain 2019
17º Muestra de Cine Mujer a Escena (Málaga). Spain 2019
7º Hrizantema Horror & Fantasy Film Festival. Serbia
7º FICME. Colombia 2019
6º Algeciras Fantástika (Cádiz) Spain 2019
38º ENKARZINE. Zalla (Vizcaya) Spain 2019
"Between Women Filmmakers" Caravan. Tunisia 2019
10º Sound & Image Challenge International Festival. China 2019
6º Festival La Mirada Tabú (Zaragoza) Spain
13º Corti a Ponte - Festival Internazionale di Cortometraggi. Italy 2020
Reviews
“Roberta’s Living Room successfully creates a world we haven’t seen before with an inventive, magic-realism premise. ”
— Christopher Grunden, VP of Programming HBO
“Suh’s film explores the paradox of life and death and how the two are intertwined through vivid imagery.”
— Roopa Chauhan, Medium article
“A life-affirming story, that throughout paints evocative images, made me smile and laugh out loud at various intervals and ultimately I felt touched by.”
— Wilbert Plijnaar, storyboard artist
