Short Stuff Premiere: Watch the teaser for ‘Fractured Frame’, a surreal psychological short, by Natalie Lauren and Simon London

By Natalia Albin Legorreta

Poster designed by Sharoze Tallat

Written by Natalie Lauren and co-directed with Simon London, Fractured Frame is a surreal short film that delves into dissociation, performance, identity, and gendered power. It follows a woman entering an audition room, where her psyche begins to fracture under the pressures and demands of a predatory industry.

While its themes resonate across the performing arts, Fractured Frame is rooted in the specific experience of being a woman in a powerless situation.

“I was immediately drawn to the project. For me it was a clear opportunity to explore further into boldly subjective psychological storytelling, while also embracing a distinctly female viewpoint,” says Simon London, “an actor myself, I related to the dehumanising situation, but getting inside the intensified levels of objectification for a woman was really striking. It was a real pleasure to collaborate with Natalie to interpret what she was exploring into a powerful visual language with her and Helena [Gonzalez, Cinematographer].”

The film marks London and Gonzalez’s second collaboration after This is Ours.

Set entirely within a photography studio, Fractured Frame adopts the tones of a thriller to capture the feeling of being literally under the spotlight, scrutinised through the male gaze, in a boundary-pushing portrayal of the industry’s darker side.

“I’m so excited to share the trailer,” Natalie Lauren told Short Stuff. “Trailers are always a creative challenge, especially for a film that’s only five minutes long. Gianluca Truda did a brilliant job as editor, crafting a sense of mounting pressure, while Andrew Weeks’s score perfectly adds both unease and the strange circus-like atmosphere the film lives in.”

Fractured Frame was selected to screen at the BFI London for members of the Female Film Club and is beginning its festival journey this week at the BIFA Qualifying Worcester Film Festival. 

“It feels like the perfect moment to release a glimpse of it: as we let go and hand it over to audiences to see what they think!” added Lauren. 

The film is Supported by Glassworks VFX & Splice Post. 

Watch the trailer below.