Charli Whatley

About: ‘Shapes We Make’ is a trilogy of short films exploring invisible illness. The films are titled, We Rest, We Rise, We Fall - symbolic of the cycle I experience with both Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Depression. I cut the films with unused footage from a music video we shot in 2018, and the music in each film is an original score from Catherine Whatley, Josef Lumley and myself. We Rest"It’s not that I don’t want to rise with the sun,Only that my body lingers in a frightening stillness.Stagnated in balance, seemingly outdone,As my ambitions are as heavy as this illness.”Poem by Charli Whatleystarring OLA AWOSIKAwritten, directed + edited by CHARLI WHATLEYmusic by JOSEF LUMLEYproduced by TOBY ANTHONISZdirector of photography ALASDAIR K BOYCEgaffer MATT DICKINSON1st AC JO-HANN VALENCIA2nd AC ELIOT MORRISproduction designer AMINA WINKLERart director EMMA PEARCErunners ANDREW MICHAEL + STEPHANA APOPEISpecial ThanksAfter Smoke Clearscrew of The Crusher© Faded Neon Films 2023Video Description: We see a person blanketed by a dark piece of fabric, they move under it upon a bed in a dance of struggle, rising up to their feet at the end and then descending back into a state of rest.