Synopsis: Filling

Written and Directed by: James Brailsford

Filling
Audience Award, Leeds International Film Festival 2003
Best Film, MA Screen Arts, Sheffield 2003
Best Edited Film from the North, Kinofilm 2003
Soho Shorts, London 2003

Is a trip to the dentist really good for you ?

Ben is a young boy with an overactive imagination. On the day of his dental appointment his daydreams interweave with reality as he becomes increasingly anxious as to what will await him at the surgery. He imagines that he is being led by a nurse down a corridor, with a variety of macabre events taking place in other rooms.

Ben's mother struggles to get him to leave the bathroom where he is constantly brushing his teeth. As they journey together through town Ben sees an old mad with decayed teeth who seems to act threateningly towards him. It is becoming increasingly hard for him, and the audience, to differentiate between reality and his fantasy world.

As he is finally led to the door of the dentist's room he becomes increasingly nervous. When he enters the room reality is mixed together with Ben's imagination to create a surreal encounter with a sinister dentist. It is a battle of wills between the two. Can the superhuman dentist be defeated or will Ben finally be consumed by his fears ?