WHERE'S THE DRAMA?

20 EXT   THE SCREENING ROOM    DAY 

The film of tomorrow appears to me as even more personal than an
individual and autobiographical novel, like a confession, or a diary.
- Francois Truffaut  

The Screening Room is currently comprised of TEN "theatres" - or channels - each specialising in different kinds of film and/or television stories.  These are:

            1. Features

         2. Documentaries

         3. Short Films

         4. Avant Garde/Experimental cinema

         5. Iranian films

         6. Television 

         7. Trailers

         8. Tribal Films

         9.  Jazz Films

        10. Web Series

Some of the films were first presented on "NOW SHOWING" as part of WHERE'S THE DRAMA'S  Recommended Films category. 

Trailers have been included to alert viewers to films they should see that are not currently available on YouTube. The "art" of the trailer is a very special form of dramatisation, as well, and the trailers featured here provide vivid and succinct examples of the effective use of the essential grammar of dramatic storytelling/filmmaking... PROBLEM, GOAL, PLAN. There is also a special section dedicated to Jazz films.

The selected shorts - and PLEASE NOTE: not all of the shorts presented in The Screening Room were chosen by the editors at WHERE'S THE DRAMA? - illuminate in various ways the essential elements of short-form drama. Each in its own way re-contextualises the dramatic problem that defines the main character. For a more detailed account of this, please read the essay, "STORY - the Long and the Short of It" - http://www.wheresthedrama.com/grammar.htm   Those films posted under the name, "scripttools", comprise some of my personal favorites and are among the finest and most potent works of modern dramatic short-form filmmaking.

If you have made an exceptional dramatic short-film that adheres to the essential grammar and principles of dramatic storytelling, that is fresh, surprising and thoroughly credible, please POST IT in the short films section of The Screening Room. Or, if you feel you have made a film that in some way contributes something original and vital to film culture, please consider posting it in the experimental film section.

Experimental films often employ dramatic grammar or elements of it in unexpected ways. Their power frequently stems from the tension, mystery and suspense they conjure by playing with context and archetypes so as to challenge our understandings, desires, fears and habits of thought.

The features (both fictional and factional) present a rather eclectic and distinctly international collection representing a broad range of genres and styles. The choice of these films was driven not so much by their technical excellence - though most of them instance memorable and often brilliant examples of the arts of cinematography, editing, sound, design, etc - but rather because they effectively and imaginatively employ the essential grammar of dramatic screen storytelling and because each, in its own way, is solidly grounded in a "tribal" sensibility that manifests and maintains a wonderful freshness and originality. This is particularly in evidence in the Iranian films, the quality of which is so good and so consistent, I have decided to give these films their own section.

The featured television programs also evidence the very best in television drama.

Please use the search function to find the film or films that you wish to view. And please feel free to comment in the space provided. Please note: this site is updated every week.

Billy Marshall Stoneking