Nailed It!

A feel-shit comedy short film.

Nailed It! Is a comedy short film about a lonely, cynical priest who uses comedy as a means to connect with his congregation much to the despair of everyone around him. After taking it too far, he is confronted by the church administration and must grapple with the fact that his antics may actually stem from his own deeper sense of isolation.

 The film explores themes of whether comedy is selfish and attention seeking, or an empathetic selfless expression of vulnerability, and the lens of a priest creates a comedic juxtaposition. It’s intriguing how little his job is about God, but rather people, and how he is craving love but looking for it in the wrong places.

We intend to use crowdfunding to support location hire, feeding our crew, paying our talented cast, and transport.

Written and directed by Angelina Cariga

Produced by Natalie Fletcher

Cinematography by Jackson Borella

Our three project leads are third year Massey University Screen Arts students, who are excited to collaborate on this project and see this short film through! We hope to deliver a project that invites audiences to have a laugh at the absurdity, but also an opportunity to look deeper within themselves and their relationships with other people. Our kaupapa for this project lies in supporting one another, and working together to achieve something we can all be incredibly proud of.

• Hireage costs for the beautiful Old St Pauls Church
• Mildly nutritious meals for our student crew
• Payment for our future oscar winning actors
• Transportation so we don't have to carry the heavy equipment down the streets of Wellington

This character of a priest who does stand up comedy to grapple with his own loneliness came from a place of initial fascination with an observation of humanity’s inability to separate religion and humanity, and how it always comes back to what is actually right in front of us. 

From our writer/director:

“I grew up close to religious communities, however I’ve remained in the opinion that people often don’t come to church for God, but rather for human connection, and I appreciate the beauty in that. Comedy is the same, and something I am personally connected to, and so colliding these two worlds to explore the above ideas as well as mental health and connection was something that I found myself naturally writing, and I think it is very relevant in today’s climate of disconnect and alienation from each other in society. I think it’s something a lot of people can relate to, especially creatives. Ultimately, I want people to fall in love with humanity again.” 

This film is being born into a world full of disconnect, and lack of empathy for our fellow human beings. We live in a time where attention must be sought out due to the oversaturation of the society we live in. This film will act as a raw portrait of humanity and highlight the beauty in the way we give or sometimes beg for attention. We deserve a celebration of all our flaws and strengths as people. The audience should leave this film feeling like they need to love one another harder. Ultimately, we want them to laugh. And cry. But mostly laugh. Because what is laughing if not love?