Cicada
It has been described as a stylised monologue: a roughly eight and a half minute to-camera piece, by a rough-looking man, with the most gentle and striking eyes, describing his memories of having witnessed a murder when he was a little boy.
Amiel Courtin-Wilson met the subject of this short film, through a theatre group for ex-prisoners (sadly now defunct).
This short but impressive piece, commissioned by Bayside Film Festival Director Sally Hussey, premiered at the Bayside Film Festival earlier this year.
There are no technical fireworks in this film, which relies mostly on its powerful subject matter for effect, and by virtue of its technical simplicity, allows the subject to predominate.
Nevertheless, its simplicity should not undermine the fact that Daniel P. Jones’s trust in Courtin-Wilson (as was the case with Jack Charles in the documentary Bastardy), was of paramount importance in eliciting this extraordinary story from Daniel’s past.