Eleven

Most people can relate to the struggles of fitting in or bullying, which is why many cast and crew felt compelled to share their own stories while making Eleven. The short follows 11-year-old Emily (Sasha Dingle-Bell) who befriends the cool kids, led by Brooke (Ana Hoonhout). When the girls pressure Emily to play a cruel prank on her friend Rebecca, she’s torn over hurting her pal for the sake of belonging. Discussions about bullying with the young cast helped shape the movie. Eleven competed at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival; at the 2014 NZ Film Awards, it won gongs for Best Short and for Kate Prior's script. 

[George Orwell]'s story illuminates the idea of the individual’s powerlessness in the face of the mass; that the motivations for terrible and unnecessary things can stem simply from the fact that the perpetrators don’t want to look like fools.

– Scriptwriter Kate Prior on how Eleven was partly inspired by George Orwell's essay 'Shooting the Elephant', in the Eleven press kit

Key Cast & Crew

Sasha Dingle-Bell

As: Emily

Kate Prior

Writer, Producer

Ana Hoonhout

As: Brooke

Astrid Lewis

As: Rebecca

Abigail Greenwood

Director

Cartier Matthews

As: Anna