Sage is a short film about the power of words in overcoming hostility and hate. The film presents this idea as the subtle ingression of magic into a challenging situation.
As a traumatic incident befalls a community meeting, a small group of people attempt to evade masked gunmen.
At the critical moment, help of a most unexpected kind comes from an unlikely source.
The story is told in one continuous take.
12:00, Saturday 21 March 2026
Screen 4, The Ashford Cinema
Shown as part of Short Film Programme 1
Credits
Director(s)
Max Blustin
Writer(s)
Max Blustin
Producer(s)
Lydia Currie, Junko Jimbo, Kristen Louise Horton
Cinematographer: Aaron Adrian Rogers
Sound Designer: Andrew Keeping
Composer
Blair Mowat
Editor
Max Blustin
Principle Cast
Lesley Joseph
Contact
New Planet Films
Meet The Artist
Max Bustin‘s short films have screened at over seventy festivals worldwide.
In 2023, Max was selected as one of four winners from 1,103 applicants to receive short film production funding as part of the Kodansha Cinema Creators’ Lab. Kodansha is the century-old Japanese publisher of Manga. The film, starring Birds Of A Feather’s Lesley Joseph, is having a successful festival run with selections at Oscar and BIFA qualifying festivals.
Sorceress, a short film starring Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones, The Fast and the Furious franchise) and Jane Danson (Coronation Street), has played at festivals around the world, having made official selections at the Oscar-qualifying Woodstock Film Festival, Vancouver International, Ashland Independent and Rome Independent Film Festivals amongst others. It also made the final five shortlisted films for the 2018 Film The House competition, voted for by Members Of Parliament from submissions across the United Kingdom.
A Magician made official selections in New York, Los Angeles, Florida, Alaska, South Korea, Europe and the UK. It picked up several awards and nominations, including a Gold Kinsale Shark and the Grand Prize at the 19th Trés Court Film Festival in Paris, coming first out of nearly 3000 initial considerations.
The History Of Chance premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Raindance Film Festival and won the Grand Prize at the Canada International Film Festival, coming first out of nearly a thousand initial entries. It had its TV premiere as an editor’s pick on Shorts TV.
Clients and collaborators have included Pathé, NHS England, The National Lottery and Hammer Horror. Corporate commissions have covered subjects from mental health to aviation security, with some going for broadcast.
Max’s short films have sold internationally to distributors including Shorts International, Canal+, Canal Spain, and Interfilm, for both broadcast and theatrical distribution.
Max has written a TV series for Ileen Maisel’s (The Golden Compass, Ripley’s Game, Romeo and Juliet) Amber Entertainment.
Max’s early and student short films include Before Midnight, Swipe, IntraVenus, Stalker and The Sneeze. Before Midnight was awarded Best Fiction Film at Screentest, the UK National Student Film Festival.
