Norwalk producer’s short film, ‘Trapped,’ wins at SXSW
A janitor gets more than he bargained for when busting a senior prank in a thriller recently recognized at the SXSW Film and TV Festival.
“Trapped” is a short film about a janitor named Joaquin who tries to stop a senior prank at a prestigious high school. However, something goes wrong and Joaquin ends up “caught between the boys, the head custodian and his own moral compass,” the film’s plot summary reads.
The 15-minute movie premiered at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas in March and won the Special Jury Award for the festival’s Narrative Shorts Competition. The film was selected for the award by a panel from entertainment company and SXSW sponsor You42, according to the festival’s website.
“It’s a pretty intense thriller,” Alex Morsanutto, the film’s producer and assistant director, said. “It
shows the disparity between social classes and what’s acceptable in these elite institutions.”
Morsanutto, a Norwalk native and one of the organizers of the Norwalk Film Festival, connected with one of the film’s main directors, Sam CutlerKreutz, during a study abroad program in the Czech Republic several years ago and they have worked together on film projects, including short films and commercials, ever since.
Sam Cutler-Kreutz wrote the short film alongside his brother and fellow director, David Cutler-Kreutz. The idea for “Trapped” was inspired by the brother’s memories of their mother teaching at a school, Morsanutto added.
“We’ve been trying so hard to get a film to this stage for so long and it’s finally paying off,” Morsanutto
said. “I’m just proud of the team, the cast and the crew that made this film come to life.”
In order to maximize the film’s limited budget, the crew filmed in locations in Linden, N.J. that “had a lot of character” but didn’t need much production design, such as inside a high school, Morsanutto said. The producer added that the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission helped the crew find locations.
“A lot of times in filmmaking, you’ll see people getting the best equipment and getting the best lights, but here the directors really wanted to focus on what was on screen,” Morsanutto said. “Creativity really comes out when you have restraints.”
“Trapped” wasn’t the only short film with a Connecticut connection to be recognized at the SXSW festival this year. Redding native Phoebe Jane Hart won the Special Jury Award for the Animated Shorts Competition for her film “Bug Diner.”
Morsanutto added that his future film plans include traveling to an entirely different country. He is raising money to produce a film about Vikings, which he hopes to shoot in Norway.