ARGH! Full Short Film Online
ARGH!
A short film written by James Bugg
Directed by Toryn Westcott
Starring Tom Crowley
WINNER
Audience Award, Golden Smile Film Festival 2024 - Best Comedy Short, Berlin Indie Film Festival 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Odense International Film Festival 2023, Copenhagen Short Film Festival 2023, Chicago Reel Shorts 2023, Ha Ha Art Film Festival 2023, Berlin Indie Film Festival 2023, Bremen FIlmfest 2024, British Shorts Berlin 2024, Norwich Film Festival 2023, Dublin International Comedy FIlm Festival 2023, Golden Smile Film Festival 2024, Black Sunday Film Festival 2024, London Lift-Off Film Festival 2023
After a year of shlepping it around the short film festival circuit, Argh’s writer James Bugg and director Toryn Westcott have released the whole short film online! You can watch it right there, above. It’s about a farm (in picturesque Essex) where the landowners let out their fields so that miserable, pent-up modern folks can let out all their rage and anxiety by screaming. Screaming as loudly as they can for as long as their slot lasts. I play Alderbrook, a man who has perhaps become too dependent on screaming, and is beginning to realise its benefits aren’t all that long-lived. But you don’t need me to tell you that, you can watch all five minutes of it up there, right now!
I was over the moon when James ‘Buggles’ Bugg asked me to play the lead in this short. James and I have orbited around each other for years, and getting to work more closely with him was a pure treat. He and I both went to York University around the same time, but because he did student radio and I did stage things like the drama and comedy societies, we never actually met. To this day, our mutual friend and fellow York alum, Wooden Overcoats producer John Wakefield, will not believe that we never set eyes on each other during that time, but it’s true. This was my first collaboration with director Toryn Westcott, usually found working in promotion and advertising, but I hope it won’t be my last.
As well as getting to work with James’s lovely face and brilliant script, I was so happy to get to work with comedy circuit veteran Richard Sandling again, for the first time in years. Richard is a true film lover and is all over the world of film and telly these days, and he’s used to perfection in this. See also his partner in crime Andrew Theobald, only recenty come to acting and already appearing everywhere, and a host of excellent screamers, each lending their own little moment of horror to the film.
Argh didn’t just give me the fun of filming, either! I got dispatches from James and Toryn about its many appearances at film festivals around the world, and even got to join the team at the Norwich Film Festival, where we were nominated for Best East Anglian Film. There was a glitzy reception where we acted like tits and drank free wine, but probably the best part was getting to see a load of shorts from other incredible new talents. My Argh! adventure has been breakneck and inspiring, and I’m very proud of the results. I hope you have a ‘SCREAM’ (yes? you see?) watching it too!