Early September 2016, Colorado welcomed many filmmakers from around the world to its Telluride Film Festival. Amongst them was LFS Alumnus Daina Oniunas-Pusić, entering the Filmmakers of Tomorrow programme with her 16-minute short comedy, RHONNA AND DONNA. This came on the back of selections for FLICKERS’s 35th Rhode Island International Film Festival, THIS IS ENGLAND Rouen British Short Film Festival, 31st Brest European Short Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival and the LOCO London Comedy Film Festival.
The titular characters are conjoined twin teenage sisters, who are having their biggest fight to date. Donna is playing Juliet in their school’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Unfortunately, Rhonna wants nothing to do with it.
Rhonna and Donna being conjoined is a physical representation of one of the themes, that of self-acceptance and self-love. It represents the split that Daina's own adolescent personality went through, who believes that "Rhonna and Donna resolving their conflict and accepting help and love from one another is also a comedic study of loving various versions of oneself as well as being comfortable in the particular peculiar skin you occupy."
RHONNA AND DONNA was made in association with Big Talk and Baby Cow, and selected from over 300 shorts by Creative England as part of their Funny Girls scheme.
Pusić’s first taste of Telluride came in 2015 with THE BEAST, which went on to collect numerous awards including the Golden Pram Award at the Zagreb Film Festival, Jury honourable mention at Slamdance and Best Short Fiction at the LA Film Festival. Currently, writer and director Pusić is in development on her TV comedy series DEATH’S DOOR after winning the BAFTA/Stellar Network TV Comedy and Drama, as well as working on her first feature film.
Photo Credit: Arthur Mulhern
Written by Ben Corbett