BENCH

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR 

About a year ago, I encountered a slightly awkward man while sitting on a bench, he approached me and began talking in depth about random topics, constantly cutting himself off and changing how he was speaking. The whole time I was mostly nodding my head and being polite to whatever he was saying. Eventually, he said he had to go and disappeared. I was left there thinking "That was a bit odd..." and wondering why he'd talked to me so much. 

It was only when I got up that I noticed a plaque on the bench saying thatit was a 'Happy To Chat Bench' and that if you sit here you should be open to having a conversation with a stranger and making a new friend.I instantly felt terrible as I now realised that this man was simply just trying to connect with me and all I was doing was saying "Yeah!" and nodding my head. It made me quite introspective and think about times where I've felt in a similar position to that man. Be it in those 'get to know you' phases of relationships and friendships,

or just times where you're talking to someone who clearly has better places to be. 

It made me really want to explore that unspoken awkwardness and emotion in a film.

It's always been a topic I'm interested in and one that I feel makes for a great form of offbeat comedy. I also enjoyed making it to show that any seemingly 'normal' situation that you experience in everyday life can be explored in an introspective and interesting way through film.

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- Archie Parker -