We’ve all been stuck inside for months. While many of us have used the time to burn through our Netflix backlogs, some folks are have put their time to better use – and I’m not talking about bread making enthusiasts, either!
Since COVID-19 struck last spring, everyone from A-list talk show hosts to the entire cast of SNL has been forced to work from home. The main takeaway so far is that even though being stuck at home seems like a major limitation, it doesn’t stifle creativity. All one really needs is an imagination and the drive to create.
Netflix’s upcoming movie Homemade is a prime example of what talented people can do with limited means. The film is a collection of shorts created by gifted filmmakers such as Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), Sebastián Lelio (Gloria Bell), Pablo Larraín (Jackie), and Rachel Morrison (Black Panther’s cinematographer).
The catch here is that these filmmakers only use equipment found at home. Some of these stories play out like intimate diaries, while others are complete fiction. The underlying theme is that these individual stories express how the coronavirus lockdown “impacted different countries and lives around the world.”
Homemade trailer:
Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, The Young Pope) had this to say:
Homemade was a great challenge for those who want to tell a story. Finding a story and characters at my own place, with nothing else available, made me feel like when, as a kid, I dreamed of doing this job.
Homemade’s Filmmakers
Ladj Ly (“Les Misérables”) – short filmed in Clichy Montfermeil (France)
Paolo Sorrentino (“The Great Beauty,” “The New Pope”) – short filmed in Rome (Italy)
Rachel Morrison (“Black Panther,” “Mudbound”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
Pablo Larraín (“El Club,” “Jackie”) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
Rungano Nyoni (“Kuuntele: I am not a witch”) – short filmed in Lisbon (Portugal)
Natalia Beristáin (“She does not want to sleep alone”) – short filmed in Mexico City (Mexico)
Sebastian Schipper (“Victoria,” “Roads”) – short filmed in Berlin (Germany)
Naomi Kawase (“True Mothers,” “Sweet Bean”) – short filmed in Nara (Japan)
David Mackenzie (“Hell or High Water,” “Outlaw King”) – short filmed in Glasgow (Scotland)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Kindergarten Teacher,” “The Honourable Woman”) – short filmed in Vermont (U.S.)
Nadine Labaki & Khaled Mouzanar (“Caramel,” “Capernaum”) – short filmed in Beirut (Lebanon)
Antonio Campos (“The Devil All The Time”) – short filmed in Springs, New York City (U.S.)
Johnny Ma (“Old Stone,” “To live to sing”) – short filmed in San Sebastian del Oeste, Jalisco (Mexico)
Kristen Stewart (“Clouds of Sils Maria,” “Come Swim”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham,” “Blinded by the Light”) – short filmed in London (U.K.)
Sebastián Lelio (“Gloria Bell,” “A Fantastic Woman”) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
Ana Lily Amirpour (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” “The Bad Batch”) – short filmed in Los Angeles (U.S.)
Homemade synopsis:
HOMEMADE is a collection of short films created by celebrated filmmakers around the world. Confined at home as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak, filmmakers created personal, moving stories that capture our shared experience of life in quarantine.
This is a celebration of the craftsmanship of filmmaking and the enduring power of creativity in the face of a global pandemic.
Homemade arrives on Netflix on June 30th, 2020.