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New Hire
W
Writer/Director: Aquarius Ester Alegria
Producer: Eseoghene Obrimah
Director of Photography: Donijah Collier
Production Design: Sarah Joanou
Color/VFX: C Ryan Stemple of Quicksilver Color
Synopsis
New Hire is an afro-surreal short that tells the story of a recently deceased Chicagoan working their first gig for a corporation that has dead people perform ghostly tasks to pay off debt.
The film follows Omari Stone, a gender non-conforming, queer person from the South Side of Chicago who signed over their spirit to an afterlife gig company, Anubi, to pay off their wife's medical debt. As we open, Omari is still in shock from their sudden car accident and apprehensive about their new job.
On their first gig, Omari encounters Cassandra, a business woman has who discovered a damaging secret about Chicago's mayor. Cassandra, a slightly neurotic workaholic is arguing with her lawyer about whether a high profile interview to expose the mayor is a safe bet.
At Anubi's headquarters, Omari meets Ox. Ox is like your favorite cousin that knows everyone's business and only comes over for the food. He's kind of irritable, but sociable and humorous. He works hard but he's treated as though he's not working hard enough. Ox is on a 175 year-long contract paying off his IRS debt.
Through this journey, Omari also encounters one of Cassandra's ancestors, a no-nonsense classy lady from the 1930s and Tanya, the overworked middle manager at Anubi. As reality fades, Omari grapples with the idea of working for 150 years on a highly questionable workload, they manage to maintain elements of their personality and loyalty to their wife as they begin their journey as a ghost for hire.
Where are
we now?
Thanks to our amazing supporters, we successfully raised $4k for post production and deliverables! As of December 2021, we're putting the finishing touches on New Hire and it will be ready to screen early 2022!
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