Circle of Fate” is directed by Desmond Denton, and is a story centered around an international trafficking industry. Tamara is a journalist investigating the sex industry in Thailand. She goes undercover in one of these trafficking rings in hope of uncovering and stopping the ring from continuing. While there she finds one of the girls being held captive, Eileen, who was abducted from South Africa not too far from where Tamara lives. Protocol says to keep your distance from the sex workers to not draw attention to yourself, but Tamara is desperate to save Eileen from this terrible situation. Will Tamara be able to help Eileen escape? Or will the sex trafficking syndicate discover her, leaving her to live the same fate as Eileen? “Circle Of Fate” brings together heart and desperation, and Is a great introduction to a bigger world crafted by Desmond Denton.
We like seeing our hero go undercover in a dark world that most people don’t realize is right at their backdoor. In this short, Tamara feels strong and sure of what she needs to do to get the information needed to save these women but is overcome when discovering Eileen. The acting between the two work well and their chemistry together comes through strongly. The performances by everyone running the trafficking ring are good, with a lot of character to their roles no matter how much time they have on screen. The story doesn’t reveal many tidbits about our main character Tamara, but because of how good her performance is I would love to see this short be expanded into a feature film. On a technical scale “Circle of Fate” has a lot of great shots with neon colors ala “John Wick”. The neon blues and reds really pop on screen and add a lot of production value to the short. The camerawork is steady and framed very nicely, and the handheld tracking shots never felt out-of-hand or shaky. Tonally, the short is very suspenseful for clocking in at around 7 minutes. I was impressed that even not knowing the characters as well as you would in a feature-length film, that you still were immediately able to relate to them. The pacing works great at well and keeps the suspense going up until the very end. I feel that I’m reviewing a short film that could easily be expanded on into a feature-length film. “Circle of Fate” is a journey into the unknown, and with a strong cast and impressive visual talent, Is one that will leave you wanting more and excited to see a continuation of the story introduced."
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Desmond Denton: “It was a great experience to be part of a panel of producers, to listen to stories of eager and passionate writers. Will be great to further develop writers to write strongly with the end in mind. Combining art and business to make stories that can be produced. Novels are a very different story, but to understand the art of film-making is an MBA study on its own. It is truly exciting to be part of a group of film-makers pushing boundaries - from indie to commercial projects, local to international scale. It takes a lot of courage to pitch your story and thank you to all who took the challenge.” It was an honour to be chosen to represent South Africa at the London Screenwriter Festival. What stood out for me was pitching concepts and television series to highly accomplished executives and honestly seeing the interest in the stories we are producing. South Africa has become a destination for filming for various big title films and commercials that we service. We aim to take it even further and co produce creative South African stories that can travel beyond our own borders. With my own project SPELONK, a post apocalyptic tv series, set in Cape Town, I found a strong interest and currently busy with discussion from a Chinese Executive producer as well as a Brittish creative producer. Going to LSF was great as one can focus on your projects, be stimulated by mentorship by acclaimed such as Chris Vogler, pitch your concept/script to executive producers (in 5min max) as well as hone your skill within the fellowship of other incredible south african filmmakers (chosen delegates) |
DESMOND DENTONPassionate creative, award winning director and writer. Telling stories with creative bravery that move, inspire and amaze. Archives
October 2018
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