Larceny (lost Christopher Nolan short film; 1996)
Poster for the short film. Possibly unofficial; source of the image unknown (particularly the top half).
Status: Lost
Larceny is a 1996 short film directed by Christopher Nolan. The film was created over the course of a single while Nolan was part of the University College London film society. He shot it using UCL film society equipment, including an Arriflex 16BL camera.[1][2] Similar to his debut feature film Following, it was a "no-budget" film funded solely by Nolan himself.
The short was only shown once, at the 1996 Cambridge Film Festival.[3] It was regarded as "one of the best (if not the best) shorts of filmsoc recent generations" by UCL film society and said to "[contain] some superb hand-held camera work, and a fast paced gripping story." It has a runtime between 8-9 minutes, contrary to what the British Film Institute lists.[4]
The film has a runtime between 8-9 minutes, contrary to what BFI lists. This is supported by the UCL film society page and a Nolan interview quoted in Christopher Nolan: A Critical Study of the Films. Multiple VHS copies are known to still be held by individuals involved with the project, but none have been made public. Nolan still maintains tight control over the short film's rights.
On May 24, 2021, a Letterboxd user named Tyler claimed to have found the short film on an old website.[5] When asked about where he found it, he said he "downloaded it off Niroflare" (likely a misspelling of "NitroFlare," a file sharing service).[6]
Synopsis
According to the British Film Institute: "A man with a bag over his head is being beaten up by a gangster but pleads mistaken identity. It turns out that he is the room-mate of the man they're looking for, who is at that moment boarding a plane out of the country."
IMDb lists the synopsis as "A man who likes to pick-pocket people, gets chased through the woods by the people he's trying to steal from" but the origin of this is unknown; considering IMDb can be edited by anyone, this is likely inaccurate.[7]
Film Credits
Starring: The Man - Jeremy Theobald, Toby - Mark Deighton, Wooly Hat - Dave Savva
Production Assistant: Emma Thomas
Sound: David Lloyd
Assistant Director: Nigel Karikari
Music: David Julyan
Assistant Camera: Ivan Cornell
Written, Directed, Shot and Edited: Christopher Nolan
Produced: Christopher Nolan, Ivan Cornell
Thanks: Mike Dunderdale, Steve Street, Bloomsbury TV, UCL Film Society
Gallery
A still from the film 1/3. From left to right: Jeremy Theobald, Mark Deighton
A still from the film 2/3. Features Jeremy Theobald.
A still from the film 3/3. From left to right: Jeremy Theobald, Dave Savva
References
- ↑ Christopher Nolan on "Following" - Conversations Inside The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 21 July '21
- ↑ UCL Film Society page (archived). Retrieved 22 July '10
- ↑ Christopher Nolan: A Critical Study of the Films Retrieved 21 July '21
- ↑ http://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150658318 British Film Institute page for Larceny.] Retrieved 21 July '21
- ↑ Letterboxd review for Larceny where user claims to have found it. Retrieved 21 July '21
- ↑ Letterboxd review where user clarifies his supposed find. Retrieved 21 July '21
- ↑ IMDb page for Larceny (1996). Retrieved 21 July '21