HAPPY DAY – First Place Winner | AGBO’s No Sleep ‘til Film Fest 2021

Directed by Kali Davis, “Happy Day” is the first place winner in AGBO’s inaugural No Sleep ‘til Film Fest filmmaking competition.

Synopsis: A Polish cleaning woman makes her way through the workday, struggling with the Birthday unit on her English learning podcast. Through consistency and determination, she realizes the magic of understanding.

Director Bio: Kali Davis is a southern Californian native. She's currently about to graduate from The American Film Institute Conservatory. Davis has worked on various independent short films in Europe and the U.S. Before AFI, Davis studied filmmaking in Prague, Czech Republic, at FAMU. More recently, Davis co-wrote, directed, and co-produced a short film, "A Disagreement About Flies," currently in the festival circuit.

Director’s Statement: When Michelle, an old friend of mine from acting school, approached me and asked if I wanted to direct something for this 48-hour challenge, I was excited by the opportunity to experiment and play. This was our first 48-hour film challenge, so we wanted to give ourselves the space to feel as creative as possible under the stress of time. In preparation, we gathered a group of actors, a small crew, a few location options, and equipment. The prompt compelled us to think about our shared reality. Michelle had spoken about her journey of learning English after immigrating from Poland, and Rebecca and I both related to that experience after having lived abroad. The idea evolved organically from our conversations around this universal sense of alienation. The story was brought to life by an incredible team in which every person gave it their absolute all. It was a true collaboration based on trust and respect.

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ABOUT NO SLEEP ‘TIL FILM FEST AGBO’s “No Sleep ‘til Film Fest” is a 48 hour short filmmaking competition, which invites emerging creators to make a bite-sized film, three minutes or less, based off of the provided creative prompt. The judges for the festival included AGBO Co-Founders and Chairmen Anthony and Joe Russo, Vice Chairman Mike Larocca, Co-Presidents of Story Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, and President of Creative Angela Russo-Otstot. The top three winners will receive script writing software from Final Draft and will join the AGBO Storytellers Collective, an alumni network of participants from other AGBO fellowship programs. Additionally, the first-place winner will receive camera equipment from RED and a storyboard sketch of their film from storyboard artist Anthony Leonardi. The second-place winner will receive an electric bike from Story Bikes.

ABOUT AGBO: Founded by award-winning, record-breaking directors Anthony and Joe Russo, AGBO is an artist-led entertainment company focused on creating content borne of innovative story universes across film, television, and digital platforms. The company is headquartered in downtown Los Angeles, CA.