WRITER / DIRECTOR STATEMENT

The Voice Note was born from a question: are some things better left unsaid?

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I have always struggled to confront difficult truths, especially within family. The mind has a way of predicting outcomes before they happen, rehearsing worst-case scenarios until remaining silent feels safer than being honest. This film grew from that space, where fear, protection, and longing become tangled.

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Henry’s attempts to record a message for his sister mirror something I know intimately. Each time he tries to speak, he edges closer to what he has avoided for years. The voice note becomes a container for all the things we swallow to keep the peace, and all the ways silence can wound as deeply as the truth itself. I wanted to make a film that sits with that tension without judging it. A film that acknowledges how heavy it can be to say what needs to be said, and how easy it is to convince ourselves that staying quiet will hurt less.

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The Voice Note is my attempt to honour the moments when the truth rises to the surface but catches in the throat. I hope it encourages viewers to reflect on the conversations they fear the most and to recognise the courage it takes to begin them.