Olivia Dance
"Lice" Short Film
Thomas lives in a dark underground society where each young male is required to catch a louse on their female counterpart's hair.
But Thomas's lack of catching skills and only two tries left, put him and his lady at risk of being sentenced to life in a mysterious place called "There".
"Lice" is my dark fantasy short film. The production took place in January of 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic.
The script went through a lot of changes: from a romantic comedy, to being set in the Victorian era, and finally settling in the caves. The darkness and the near blindness of the characters would make them trapped in their little world, unable to guess what is beyond it. One of the biggest challenges was to create the physical space for the shooting to take place, since we were creating a completely fictional underground world. The production designer, Madalena Gouveia, designed and built a 3x3 m structure entirely from scratch. It served as both rooms of the protagonists, Thomas and Elizabeth.
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In 2024 the film was selected by Short. Sweet. Film Fest, Lift-Off Global Network and Absurd Film Festival. In 2025 it was selected by Pastiche Filmz and Florence Film Awards.​
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I am currently developing a feature film that expands on this idea and is based on the world and themes explored in "Lice."
