Tough Love | Short Film

A vengeful Father tracks down the man who killed his son. Both men end up stranded and injured in the forest as they make the grim realization that in order to make it down the mountain alive, they must work together.

This short film is helmed by Austin Film Festival award winning writer/director Lucas Kachadorian, and produced by a crack team of advanced VUW film students including producers Jordyn Taljard and Remy Armitage. With seasoned New Zealand actor Phil Peleton in the lead role, this project is firing on all cylinders.

This passion project won't take much to execute, we can do a lot with a little but we need your help!

The $1,200 NZD will go to the following:

• Catering budget for four shoot days with full cast and crew
• Props budget for the few items we can't make ourselves
• Payment of key cast members

With around $180 NZD being used for catering every day on set, the remaining budget will cover other smaller expenses.

Tough Love is deeply personal and years in the making. After pouring himself into these characters and refining this piece to the best it can be, Lucas and the team are finally ready to start production. 

This is the story of two fathers living with regret, and painfully being forced to confront their biggest failures. 

Scott, a corporate pharmaceutical executive, has let his anger consume him. Armed with a handgun and a vengeance, he is out for blood as he mourns the death of his only son.

Mark, an out of work struggling father, has been robbing banks in the face of ever-increasing medical bills as a result of his daughter's worsening condition. In a fated robbery, Mark accidentally hits Scott's son with his car and he is now facing the consequences.

Every good story serves as an example of a larger, more universal question. Tough Love asks: can you harbor true hate without hurting yourself? 

Even if Scott killed Mark, the red hot source of all his hate, would he ever find peace knowing there’s a kid out there that just lost their dad?

In a world where division is the norm, this film presents two men with every reason to kill one another and continue that cycle of hatred, but when that violent confrontation isn't possible, what happens next? How can the biggest of rivals work together to heal wounds?