Why This Story?

As mentioned in the video above, the idea for the film came from a real life case, as I came across, and listened to, the chilling audio of a mother's call to the police detailing the grisly find in her teenager's bedroom. My immediate thought: what would have happened if she hadn't called the police? What would that say about the relationship between mother and son? What kind of people would these two have to be?

Further research brought to light a disturbing trend here in Britain regarding mothers and sons, The Guardian recently highlighting that “in the past 15 years nearly 1 in 10 women who have died at the hands of men in the UK were killed by their sons”. This figure is extremely high and is seemingly being paid little attention. Why, in this country, are sons so regularly posing a threat to their own mothers?

Our film presents an alternative version of these real life cases, while still exploring how that most innate of bonds - mother and child - could be corrupted. Adolescent violence may be a topic on a lot of minds right now, but I wanted to ask the question of how a parent responds when they realise the threat comes from within - Solomon Smith (Writer/Director). 

For the rest of our cast and crew announcements, follow our Instagram @noonesonear !

Solomon Smith - Writer/Director 

Solomon is a Brighton-based Writer and Director, with his previous short film Common Ground winning Best Screenplay at Cambridge Watersprite Film Festival and nominated for Best New Filmmaker at the BIFA-qualifying Brighton Rocks Film Festival. He has also collaborated with producer Ryan Forrest on several of Ryan's short film productions, as well as AD department work on high end TV dramas and independent feature films.

Solomons work tends to focus on psychological explorations of dysfunctional family units, asking audiences to question societal norms and relationships that we take for granted. 

Lindsay Bennett-Thompson - Leah 

Lindsay Bennett-Thompson will be joining the team in No One So Near playing the role of Leah. She is both an actor and a writer with many years of experience across stage and screen. Audiences can currently see her as the eccentric Miss Scott in the PBS period drama Miss Scarlet, as well as in Netflix’s Toxic Town and Channel 4’s Truelove.

Her film Boys Like You went on to win the prestigious Golden Bee Award at the Manchester Film Festival, cementing her voice as a writer to watch. An enthusiast of independent film, Lindsay thrives on collaboration with fellow creatives. “I believe and admire anyone making your own work, in your own voice — never waiting for permission. It takes a deep passion, strong ambition, endless determination and a little sprinkle of crazy"

Lucy Reynolds - Producer

Lucy Reynolds is a writer, director, producer of several short films and commercials as director of filmmaking group Brain Food Collective. The collective are recent winners of an RTS award for Best Short Documentary for their film, Tales of Exile, and was nominated for Best Documentary at Cambridge Watersprite Film Festival, where they met writer/director Solomon Smith and began their collaboration on No One So Near. 

She has also worked at Pinewood Studios with Sony, producing a charity EPK documentary. During this she hosted interviews with Cooke, Sony and The Lewy Body Society.

Ryan Forrest - Producer

Ryan is a two-time short film writer/director/producer. He is currently in pre-production on his first feature-length documentary, Music’s Just The Way In, which he is pitching to the BBC with the help of Nest Productions. The documentary will follow three teens through a music therapy programme run in one of the most deprived council estates in the country. 

As well as this feature project, Ryan is currently producing two short films via his start-up production company, IndiFilmProduction Ltd - one being No One So Near with long-time collaborator Solomon Smith, and the other After We Come And Go, his first collaboration with up-and-coming German director Niklas Wagner.

Tom Lawson - Director of Photography

Tom is a cinematographer with a love of bold lighting and rich colour. He has worked on narrative and experimental shorts, as well as music videos, across both digital and 16mm film mediums. He was drawn to the project by the many opportunities for bold imagery and expressive lighting present in the script. Toms work can be found at http://tomxlawson.com

Why Does Your Donation Matter?

Independent, original storytelling is in danger, as many of you reading this will be aware. Everything from autocratic governments to AI development is threatening the creative industries, and we face a tipping point that will ultimately be decided by you, the audiences. What you choose to support is more crucial than ever, and by supporting independent films like ours and many others on this site you are contributing towards a healthier creative ecosystem and supporting the future of film. Generative AI has not and will not be used at any point during this project, with we as a crew believing wholeheartedly in preserving the value of human creativity. We hope you feel the same!

Our main expenses are predominantly getting our cast and crew to our location in Brighton and paying for accomodation for them during the 3 day shoot. The great power of film - its collaborative, hands-on, man-made nature - is also what accounts for its greatest expenditure! Additional expenses range from equipment rental, catering, production design, the post-production process, music, and distribution of the finished film - your contribution is not only going towards the shoot itself but the entire process, all the way through to getting the film in front of your very eyes and playing at film festivals all over.