Reflective Encounters

Snuff films, and similar amateur pieces, came to prominence alongside the growth of social media. The ability to share any video to anyone has resulted in humans being able to watch an infinite range of content, including some of the most barbaric events imaginable, at the touch of a button.

In Distressing Images, Sam Dawe grapples with this phenomenon. As a content moderator, Ed Collier (Michael Socha) has become numb to the endless feed. However, it also means he is fully aware of the effects it can have, hence the severe concern when his six-year-old son Max (Isaac Vincent-Norgate) unintentionally witnesses a man burning alive on the computer.

Opening in such a grisly fashion, it is impressive that Dawe maintains an unsettling atmosphere throughout. Ed’s worries surrounding his son’s well-being are palpable, depicted by second guessing whether he should share the incident with his wife Abi (Chanel Cresswell) to rotating his baby daughter Elsie around whilst working - paranoid not to mess up again.

No matter how hard parents try, children always find a way of discovering something inappropriate. Distressing Images conveys that trust – in yourself as well as them – alongside communication is crucial to alleviating doubt and surfaced traumas.

— Nathan Hardie