A Haunting and Inventive Love Story Spanning Centuries — Set in Just One Room
Los Angeles, CA (August 18, 2025). Freddie Fox’s bold, time-spanning short film The Painting & The Statue featuring an acclaimed cast including Mark Gatiss (Sherlock), Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education), and Asim Chaudhry (Barbie) has been officially selected for the 2025 HollyShorts Film Festival. An Academy Award®-qualifying event and one of the world’s premier showcases for short filmmaking.
Logline: A painting and a statue meet across a crowded room that transitions through 200 years. It just takes one look, one breathless moment, to bring them alive…literally.
It is produced by Kαrimα Sammout Kanellopoulou through her BAFTA-nominated company, Galazia Productions, and executive produced by Academy Award® winner Chris Overton (The Silent Child) and Slick Films, alongside Fox’s own Brandy Bay Productions.
Told from a single room across 250 years of history, The Painting & The Statue is a visually inventive, emotionally resonant tale about two works of art — a painting and a statue — trapped in the same space, aware of each other’s existence, yet forever unable to meet. As the world changes around them, from the spoils of the 19th-century empire, through decadent Bright Young Thing parties, midnight Nazi bombings, and into the sterile halls of a modern-day museum reckoning with its colonial past, the silent observers remain unmoving, unseen, yet ever-watchful. Until, one day, by pure chance, their eyes meet, and for a fleeting, magical moment, the centuries melt away.
The Official Trailer for The Painting & The Statue Directed by Freddie Fox
The film features a standout cast of celebrated British talent including Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, The League of Gentlemen), Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education, Emma), Asim Chaudhry (People Just Do Nothing, Barbie), Nathan Stewart Jarrett (Femme, Culprits), Fenella Woolgar (Bright Young Things, Call the Midwife), and rising stars Will Merrick, Andy Monaghan, and Hannah Onslow. Across 22 characters played by just six actors, the film distills an epic narrative into an intimate theatrical experience, captured (almost entirely) in just two camera angles.
Freddie Fox, already well known for his acclaimed acting career on stage (Travesties, Hamlet) and screen (Slow Horses, The Great, House of the Dragon), made his directorial debut with the short film Hero, which won the Directorial Discovery Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival. The Painting & The Statue is his most ambitious project to date, and was developed and produced by his company, Brandy Bay Productions. Brandy Bay is currently working in co-production with The Kenneth Branagh Company on a feature documentary about British theatre, directed and produced by Fox, and featuring appearances from Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman, and Eddie Redmayne.
The film’s artistry is further elevated by a powerhouse creative team including Ryan Eddleston (Director of Photography, Prevenge, Timestalker), Annie Symons (Costume Designer, BAFTA winner, Worried About The Boy), Jules Chapman (Makeup Designer, Loki, The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Violet Elliot (Production Designer, The Great, Enola Holmes 2), and Arthur Pita (Choreographer, Ex Machina, Sunshine On Leith).
“This story is about isolation, connection, and the passage of time,” says Fox. “It’s a timeless love story, but told from a perspective we don’t usually get to see, or even imagine. I’m deeply proud of the incredible team that brought it to life, and thrilled to premiere it at HollyShorts.”
The HollyShorts Film Festival takes place August 8–17, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Recognized as a launching pad for the next generation of filmmakers, the festival is an important platform for Oscar® consideration and global discovery.
About HollyShort Film Festival
An Oscar®-Qualifying short film festival based in Los Angeles. Since its establishment in 2005, HollyShorts has grown into a premier platform for independent filmmakers worldwide. As an Academy Awards-qualifying festival in four categories, HollyShorts presents a diverse selection of innovative short films across various genres.
About BitPix
Bitpix is a streaming service for shorts films, accessible on over 1000 devices including iOS devices, Android devices, MACs, PCs, streaming media boxes such as Roku, Apple TV, and Chromecast. Bitpix was created by filmmakers for filmmakers. Born and bread out of the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival, Bitpix is your home to watch the best short films from around the world—every day. Bitpix News is your home for the latest news, reviews, and updates about these shorts featured on the platform.
About 88th Street Productions
HSFF provides 88th Street Productions access to over 40,000 short films and filmmakers in all genres, The Company has long standing relationships with these filmmakers, talent and entertainment industry executives. 88th Street is able to activate these relationships to source to access projects in all genres. Alta Global Media provides access to established filmmakers, executives and talent agencies.
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