Pavement

Description

Pavement is about a homeless man who is trapped outside a financial institution. He cries out to passers by and cannot move because the tarmac has grown over his legs. Unable to move he desperately needs help but sadly only receives the scorn of others. Police fine him, he is threatened with deportation and a variety of indignities. The more harsh the treatment he receives the further he sinks into the ground. Only one woman (Claire) a compassionate stranger treats the homeless man with respect. She talks to him like he’s a real person and they soon bond revealing striking similarities in their up bringing and their backgrounds. As the hours pass gradually he sinks further and further into the ground. Eventually he is just a face poking up from the pavement. Claire has an idea to help the homeless man but she faces many obstacles to active this.

With things getting desperate Claire has an idea to help release the homeless man. But will she be allowed to put her plans into action in a world more concerned with protocol and bureaucracy.

Biblical Connection

Pavement takes it’s inspiration from ‘Lazarus and the rich man’ and also has echoes of ‘the Good Samaritan’. As a short film it will be visually striking with a clear and poignant message which should travel internationally. A simple tale, a contemporary parable, made relevant for the modern age that examines the our relationship with wealth, death and our treatment of those less fortunate in society.