And Then There Were Nun

SquiggleBooth

Podcast by Todd Tinkham Flash file available here. Ajit says:

Another entry by Todd Tinkham, this short film is one of his early works. Like many of his films, there is an undercurrent of religion which normally reveals itself in unusual and surprising ways. Like it were prehistoric relic with a dark past waiting to return to its former glory.

Todd: It’s strange looking back at your own films. One begins to see unplanned patterns emerging on the screen. Although I am not religious, religion plays a big part in many of my films, comedy and drama. I grew up Catholic and attended parochial schools at a time when the vast majority of the teachers were still nuns. But very few of them were under 60 years old, and many were well into their 80s - which meant they were pretty worn out and more than ready to retire to wherever it is they send aged nuns. Some of the oldest nuns would literally fall asleep at their desks during class. Needless to say, all hell would break loose – until they opened their eyes. Punishment fell fast and hard at Saint Ann’s School. Brutality was common among the Sisters Of Mercy that I knew. I witnessed severe beatings by gangs of nuns and was given more than one nosebleed for my quick and clever remarks. One day in the 5th grade, I was beaten by three nuns and then locked in a closet for the rest of the day. When my mother found out that I’d caused trouble at school, she beat me some more and grounded me for a month. A good Catholic, bless her soul. AND THEN THERE WERE NUN, one of my earliest films, is mostly fun, but it’s also heavy and frightening, much like Catholic schools. Surprisingly, AND THEN THERE WERE NUN did very well on the festival circuit – screening at more than 30 film festivals in 2006 and 2007, including the Vienna International Film Festival in Austria and the Rebel Planet Short Film Festival in Hollywood.