After The Egg
A film by Chelsea Slayter
A young woman becomes an unlikely caregiver for her estranged father and his new chicken friend.
A man recklessly rides in his electric wheelchair and takes a tumble. He meets a chicken while he’s face down on the ground. His 25-year-old daughter, Angel, cares for him, and when the chicken makes its way into the house, he insists on having the chicken stay.
Seeing the happiness her father is experiencing, Angel plays into his delusion and treats the chicken like a house guest. The pressures of caring for her father’s needs, as well as the chicken’s, begins to mount and she grapples with the idea of leaving him at an assisted living facility. Their underlying history comes to a boiling point when she accidentally leaves the door open and the chicken wanders off.
Written & Directed by
Chelsea Slayter
Director of Photography by
Sebastian Slayter
Produced by
Jane Davis, Vague Pictures
Sound Recording by
Dan Jury
Editing by
Courtney Marquard
Featuring
Emily Laurić as Angel, William Gruar as Bobby
BTS photographs by Ash Reid, Ryan Alexander Lloyd, and Sebastian Slayter.
Director Statement
AFTER THE EGG is a tender observation of a transitional time when a child begins to provide care for a parent.
The script is loosely based on the experiences of taking care of my father after he suffered a stroke in November 2019. He came home from the hospital just as COVID-19 began to ravage the world, isolating us in a bubble together with his new condition. During this time, I had to come to terms with our new father/daughter dynamic.
Despite the emotionally and physically draining aspects of caring for a parent, there were moments of joy and curiosity. We were forced to explore our underlying feelings head on, lowering our defenses and making us more honest. For me, this film is an exploration into the challenges and nuances of healing those invisible injuries.
William Gruar, who plays Bobby, is a paraplegic and a first-time performer. He's written memoirs based on his life and experiences being wheelchair-bound. Through a technique of matching his personal memories with the written scenes, we were able to craft his performance together.
This project was written and filmed while I was working on a commercial job in New Zealand in 2020/2021. It was filmed with a NZ producer, crew, and actors. It is a United States/New Zealand co-production.
