Beyond the Pane

Director: Shahab Zargari
Writer: Ekam Singh
Lead: Jacob Gallegos
Composer: Mo Milan

Plot summary of this micro short film: David is enjoying a calm day at home reading and relaxing until he spots something unusual outside his window: a suspicious stranger hanging out on the corner in front of his house. Who is this hooligan, and what is he doing here? David intends to find out.

This film and its characters are a metaphor for the endless cycle of child abuse where most children who are abused tend to grow up and abuse their own children.

“One-third of child victims grow up to continue a pattern of seriously inept, neglectful, or abusive rearing as parents. One-third do not. The other one-third remain vulnerable to the effects of social stress on the likelihood of their becoming abusive parents.”

JE Oliver
‘Intergenerational Transmission Of Child Abuse:
Rates, Research, And Clinical Implications’
AM J Psychiatry 1993 sep; 150(9): 1315-24. doi: 10.1176/ajp. 150.9.1315.

Beyond the Pane is currently in post-production.