Sleepyhead

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Synopsis: 17-year-old Rae is chronically ill, and chronically awesome. She spends her days fantasising about all the things she’d rather be doing in bed (like Timothee Chalamet, for example…) and how she might orchestrate the untimely deaths of her incompetent doctors. When her best friends turn out to be massive arseholes and her mum struggles to believe her, Rae has to summon enough persistence to get a wheelchair so she can get the hell out of her suffocating bedroom. Sleepyhead is an honest dark comedy that captures the uniquely complex reality of becoming disabled.

About the Filmmaker: Milly Garnier is a director based in London. An advocate for women in film and accessibility, her projects to date have focussed on – and subverted – narratives and voices that are often left unheard, particularly those around hidden chronic illness and disability. Milly’s live-action directing debut was funded by a £20,000 grant from the inaugural Female Film Force, and premiered at a private screening in association with the London Short Film Festival, before its first public showing at the BFI as part of the 2019 BAFTA qualifying Underwire Festival in London, where it was nominated for best screenwriting. All of Milly’s films have achieved success on the festival circuit, including selection and award nominations from BIFA and BAFTA qualifying festivals such as Underwire, WOFFF and Little Wing Festival. In 2023, Milly was selected for Disney’s Star Imagine incubation scheme, where she was financed to make short film ‘Sleepyhead’ which recently premiered at the BFI London Film Festival.