Netflix announced HOMEMADE, a collection of short films created by celebrated filmmakers around the world. Confined at home as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak, filmmakers created personal, moving stories that capture our shared experience of life in quarantine. Produced by The Apartment Pictures, a Fremantle company, and Fabula, HOMEMADE is a celebration of the craftsmanship of filmmaking and the enduring power of creativity in the face of a global pandemic.
Filmed using only equipment found at home, the stories range from intimate diaries of the filmmakers’ day-to-day life to short tales of fiction across multiple genres, offering a magnifying glass over how the lockdown impacted different countries and lives around the world.
Lorenzo Mieli, CEO of The Apartment, Fabula’s Juan de Dios Larraín and Pablo Larraín have rallied filmmakers from all around the world to join the project.
Behind the camera is a diverse and globe-spanning roster of some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of today, including:
Nadine Labaki & Khaled Mouzanar (Caramel, Capernaum) – short filmed in Beirut (Lebanon)
Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) – short filmed in Clichy Montfermeil (France)
Paolo Sorrentino (The Great Beauty, The New Pope) – short filmed in Rome (Italy)
Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Mudbound) – short filmed in Los Angeles (USA)
Pablo Larraín (El Club, Jackie) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
Rungano Nyoni (Kuuntele: I am not a witch) – short filmed in Lisbon (Portugal)
Natalia Beristáin (She does not want to sleep alone) – short filmed in Mexico City (Mexico)
Sebastian Schipper (Victoria, Roads) – short filmed in Berlin (Germany)
Naomi Kawase (True Mothers, Sweet Bean) – short filmed in Nara (Japan)
David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water, Outlaw King) – short filmed in Glasgow (Scotland)
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Kindergarten Teacher / The Honourable Woman) – short filmed in Vermont (USA)
Antonio Campos (The Devil All The Time) – short filmed in Springs, New York City (USA)
Johnny Ma (Old Stone; To live to sing) – short filmed in San Sebastián del Oeste, Jalisco (Mexico)
Kristen Stewart – (Clouds of Sils Maria / Come Swim) short filmed in Los Angeles (USA)
Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham; Blinded by the light) – short filmed in London (UK)
Sebastián Lelio (Gloria Bell, A Fantastic Woman) – short filmed in Santiago (Chile)
Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night; The Bad Batch) – short filmed in Los Angeles (USA)
Lorenzo Mieli, CEO of The Apartment: “This project is a beautiful way to send a strong message of unity and resilience throughout the international creative community. I want to thank Netflix as well as all our directors for taking this challenge and proving that, even in such a complicated time, we can all try to move forward on exciting and unbeaten paths”.
Juan de Dios Larraín, CEO Fabula: “Homemade is an invitation to a group of directors to explore creativity under the same conditions. It’s quite democratic. This is not about resources, this is about the craft of filmmaking”.
Pablo Larraín, Director : “Wonderful chance to work with people I admire. And also a very extraordinary chance to keep working, thanks to Netflix and its amazing team, in days so confusing and unique.”
Teresa Moneo, Director Original Films at Netflix: “Seeing the stories of others can open hearts and minds and make us all feel more connected. This is why, in these unprecedented times, we are humbled to work with this incredible ensemble of diverse filmmakers and to bring their personal stories to our members around the world”.
The anthology will be made available globally on Netflix on June 30 2020.
A donation in honor of each filmmaker will be made from Netflix’s Hardship Fund to third parties and non-profits that are providing emergency relief to out-of-work crew and cast across the broader TV and film industry.
About The Apartment
The Apartment is a company founded in 2020 by Lorenzo Mieli within the Fremantle group. The company focuses on the creation and development of global scale TV series and feature films by investing in IP acquisition, exclusive deals with International level talent and writers. The Apartment positions itself on the market as an incubator of major projects that are developed and financed, and then physically produced by a network of partner production companies. In its initial slate, The Apartment has co-produced with Wildside Paolo Sorrentino’s The New Pope, Saverio Costanzo’s, My Brilliant Friend – The Story of a New Name, and Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming We Are Who We Are, and will also develop any follow-up. Lorenzo Mieli is the CEO of The Apartment.
About Fabula
Fabula is the most prolific film production company in Latin America, best known for “A Fantastic Woman” winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. Founded in 2004 by Juan de Dios Larraín (producer) and Pablo Larraín (director/producer), its work spans over to film, television, advertising and production services, they have produced more than 27 films, 800 commercials and three TV series made in Chile: “El Presidente”, being their latest project.
Fabula’s first English language film, “Jackie” -directed by Pablo Larraín- was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Natalie Portman. Larraín also directed “The Club,” winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale 2015; “No,” nominated to the Oscars in 2013, and awarded Best Film at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival 2012. “Ema,” Larraín’s latest film.
Since its beginning, Fabula has taken a chance with young and talented directors such as Sebastián Silva (“Nasty Baby”, “Crystal Fairy”, Best Director at Sundance 2013) and Marialy Rivas (“Young and Wild”, Best Screenplay Sundance 2012; “Princesita”).
For more information, visit www.fabula.cl or follow us @fabulafilms (Facebook) and @fabula_prod (Twitter and Instagram)
HOMEMADE
Filmmakers Quotes
Nadine Labaki/Khaled Mouzanar: “This question has been tormenting us as parents for a while : How are our children perceiving or living the confinement ? What goes on in their minds ? When the producers of Homemade contacted us to be part of this project it was the perfect occasion for us to explore this dimension.”
Paolo Sorrentino: “Homemade was a great challenge for those who want to tell a story. Finding a story and characters at my own place, with nothing else available, made me feel like when, as a kid, I dreamed of doing this job”
Rachel Morrison: “Making a short for Homemade was a catharsis for me because it inspired me to re-engage creatively and to work through some of the emotional trauma resulting from the virus and quarantine.”
Pablo Larraín: “Extremely proud and excited to be part of this wonderful work, which we all did from home. Very curious to know the people’s reaction.”
Rungano Nyoni: “A challenge but an exciting challenge which pushed me to tell a story in a way I wouldn’t have thought of without the time / space restrictions.”
Natalia Beristáin: “HOMEMADE gave me the opportunity to reconnect with my kraft during this peculiar times, so even though I still don’t have a rational explanation to what we’re experiencing globally, having the privilege to watch my kid so close and attentively for this past weeks enable me to start understating this whole situation in a more intuitive and sensorial way. Spaces is a reflection of this.”
Sebastian Schipper: “Most private film I ever did. Terrifying. Thank God it will only be available on this little internet site…*”
Naomi Kawase: ”Today, many are forced to create distance between one another from the terror of a small virus. Historically, generations that experience the threat of a pandemic have been tragically subject to discrimination or division. However, art is always a beacon of hope for our souls. As the new leader of digital entertainment, Netflix has created HOMEMADE, an incredible project bringing 20 filmmakers together from around the world. There is great significance in putting proceeds from this project to supporting those suffering from the coronavirus. One day, I hope we can live in a world where human beings prosper together across borders, and grow to see oneself in one another”
David Mackenzie: “I have long been interested in trying to make intimate film portraits of people, so I took the opportunity to do so with my daughter who had just turned 16 under lockdown. No true portrait is made without an intense interplay between the subject, who has to deal with what of themselves to present and expose, and the portrait maker – so over seven days in May, Ferosa and I (with the help of the rest of the family) went through a turbulent dance to try to capture the waves of mixed emotions that were washing over her and to express it to a camera that was closer and more present than any film-making I have ever done.”
Antonio Campos: “There were 8 of us living together for two months outside New York City in a place called Springs, NY. When we were proposed this project, we immediately got excited, developed an idea, wrote the script and were shooting a few days later. “Homemade” is an appropriate description of the short. It’s rough around the edges and made with a lot of love and excitement just to be working together on something during this pandemic.”
Johnny Ma: “The experience of making “Homemade” during quarantine has given me a chance to discover a new creative voice, but what I couldn’t foresee was how the experience has brought my family together.”
Kristen Stewart: Art that is born of restriction has a way of becoming itself in a surprising and cosmic sort of way and short films by nature don’t have to abide by any rules which really opens up the idea of what a movie can do. I was so grateful for and liberated by this idea. It was a huge gift to be encouraged to make something out of this strange nothingness. I hope this series inspires people to do the same.
Gurinder Chadha: “It was great to record this particular moment in our collective history for me as a filmmaker and a mother. Despite the international sorrows we have endured, no one could have imagined the unexpected gifts that have emerged from this Lockdown experience.”
Sebastián Lelio: “It was very challenging to conceive an audiovisual piece that somehow speaks about the experience of isolation, anxiety, madness and absurdity in times of COVID- 19 in such a short time (Two weeks from writing to delivery) and all done within confinement. It was interesting to try to find the right vehicle to explore this subject and in the end, the mixture of genres was what seemed more exciting to me, “Algoritmo” is somehow a combination of Low budget Musical, Urgent Chronicle, and Personal Manifesto.”
Ana Lily Amirpour: When I was asked to make a film during the time of quarantine in Los Angeles I couldn’t think of writing a fictional script when reality Itself felt more like science fiction. So my only thought was to go on a bike ride and see my city in this rare sleeping state. And film it.
