Written by Susannah Nolan Directed by Jeremiah Kipp Starring Emily Donahoeand Holly Curran
How close to the abyss would you go to save another person? New mother Becky is awakened at close to midnight by Justine, an alcoholic who is on the brink of self-destruction. In order to reach Justine, Becky must open her own padlocked past and finds the imps inside are harder than she thought to get back in.
Director Jeremiah Kipp: There's an inherent terror in receiving a phone call in the middle of the night. The connection becomes a lifeline between two people who are very far apart, but sometimes over the phone through the power of words, we can save someone from falling. Words in recovery groups have a near-totemic power; and as surely as they can save us, they can also tear open old wounds and remind us of a damaged past brushed just under the rug. The phone call in HOW DO YOU TYPE A BROKEN HEART? is a plunge into the abyss, with one woman attempting to rescue another woman even if the psychic toll is enormous. Under such bleak conditions, heroes are made or broken.
FESTIVALS Westfield International Film Festival 2018 (nom. Best Short Drama; Best Screenplay) First Glance Film Festival- Philadelphia 2018 (nom. Best Drama and Best Actress: Holly Curran) Awareness Festival LA 2018 NY Shorts International Film Festival 2018 NY Short Film Festival 2018 (winner: Nostos Best Screenplay Award) Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival 2018 Garden State Film Festival 2019 Entholigy Film Screening 2019 Stay In May Short Film Festival 2019 NYC Independent Film Festival 2019 Long Island Independent Film Expo (nom. Best Story) Woods Hole Film Festival 2019 SoHo International Film Festival 2019 Austin Revolution Film Festival 2019 (nom. Best Director: Jeremiah Kipp; Best Cinematographer: Taylor Camarot) Reel Recovery Film Festival NY 2019 Reel Recovery Film Festival LA 2019 Nightpiece International Film Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland) 2019 Over-The-Rhine International Film Festival 2019 Berkshire Short Film Festival 2019 Recovery Voices Film Project 2019 Au Contraire Film Festival (Montreal, Canada) 2019 Adirondack Film Festival 2019 NY Short Film Festival 2019 (winner Best in Fest) Oregon Short Film Festival 2020 (nom. Best Actress: Emily Donohoe) Oxford International Film Festival 2020 (Oxford, United Kingdom) NY Women in Film & Television Online Shorts Festival 2022