Films about confinement, and the power that grows inside a closed room.
McNovak is the working partnership of William Alan McNeice, out of theatre, and Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice, out of literature. We make chamber pieces: a few people, one apartment, a door that will not open. The interest is always the same — what a person becomes when the world narrows to a single room, and who they decide to rule inside it.
The work is deliberately austere. It is carried by actors and by dread rather than by spectacle, closer to the quiet menace of Ring or Dark Water than to anything that needs a bigger budget to frighten you. Restraint is the method, not the apology.
We may be confined to protect us from the outside, or we may be confined to protect the outside from us.
From Claustrophilia
The films
Lockdown / 2020
A couple finds themselves under quarantine with their two cats… and the food is running out.
Runtime
6 min 34 s
Ratio
2.20 : 1
Origin
Spain · English
Role
Written, directed & produced by McNovak
CINE ANIMAL FEST — BogotáOfficial Selection · 2023
Claustrophilia / 2021
A woman becomes imprisoned in her own apartment, and learns to enjoy the power she wields over everyone else trapped inside with her.
Runtime
9 min 49 s
Ratio
16 : 9
Origin
Spain · English
Record
7 festivals · 6 awards
New Wave Short Film Festival — MunichBest Horror
Roma Short Film Festival — RomeBest Horror
New York Tri-State International FFWinner
One-Reeler Short Film Competition — LAWinner
Barcelona International Film FestivalWinner
Hong Kong Indie Film FestivalWinner
Venice Fullshot Film FestivalHon. Mention
Bilateral Symmetry / 2022
A wife and husband return home to discover that they may have already died.
Runtime
4 min 40 s
Ratio
4 : 3
Origin
Spain · English
Role
Written, directed & produced by William McNeice and Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice
Kollywood International Film Festival — ChennaiWinner
Allentown Film Festival — Allentown, PennsylvaniaOfficial Selection
Cittador International Film Festival – ViennaHon. Mention
Palm Beach International Film Festival — Palm Beach, FloridaOfficial Selection
Feature · seeking a producer
The Mistress
A wealthy socialite and her assistant are shut inside the assistant's apartment while the world outside comes apart — a feature-length confinement thriller set in Wrocław.
The chamber form the shorts were built to test, at feature length. The title is meant to stay ambiguous: who keeps whom.
The visual key — from Bilateral Symmetry.
McNovak is looking for a producing partner to bring The Mistress to production in Poland.