The Neighbors’ Window, a short film by Marshall Curry, has been nominated for an Oscar in the live action short film category at the Academy Awards. The 20 minute short film tells the story of Alli, a mother of two young children who has grown frustrated with her daily routine and husband, Jacob. But her life is shaken up when two free-spirited twenty-somethings move in across the street and she discovers that she can see into their apartment. The short film has its own microsite: TheNeighborsWindow.com. See the film below and a few notes from the director.
From the Director
Marshall Curry talks about the inspiration behind The Neighbors’ Window.
“I remembered an interview I’d heard years before on Love and Radio, in which Diane Weipert described a young couple who’d moved in across the street from her. It was funny and heartbreaking, and it inspired me to write a script that explored the same themes with a new O. Henry-ish ending. I knocked out the first draft in one feverish afternoon and spent the next months revising and reshaping it, tweaking lines until our first day of shooting.
As a New Yorker, I’m fascinated – and frequently moved – by the way my life overlaps with the lives of thousands of strangers. We create intimate connections as we press together on the subways, watch our children at the playground, and peer into each other’s apartments. But those intimate connections are always incomplete.
In The Neighbors’ Window I wanted to explore how these anonymous glimpses into other people’s lives affect our feelings about the world and about ourselves. The film is rooted in real physical experiences, but it can also be seen as an allegory about social media – the way we see into each other’s lives and take away an idealized view that never really tells the whole story.”
The Neighbors’ Window Credits
The Neighbors’ Window was written, directed & edited by Marshall Curry, with director of photography Wolfgang Held, camera operator Thorsten Theilow, producers Jonathan Olson and Julia Kennelly, and executive producer Elizabeth Martin. Music is by James Baxter & The National.
Key actors are Maria Dizzia, Greg Keller, and Juliana Canfield.
This fictional film was inspired by a true story told by Diane Weipert on Love + Radio’s “The Living Room,” produced by Briana Breen.
