INSTRUCT ME, PLEASE

Writer * Director 

Synopsis

“Instruct Me Please” follows the journey of a young woman, Ines Shilling, and her nosedive into all-consuming grief. After the death of her mentor and first real friend, she is left with fragmented pieces of herself and no knowledge of how or where to put them. Disillusion prevails.

Amidst her world of grief, the real world keeps moving around her. Events of her youth envelop her. The healing power of nature, day jobs, house parties, substances, and the support of her friends all help to eventually coax her out of her state of disenchantment and remind her it is possible and wonderful to feel. In addition, they instil her with the inner and outer strength she needs to conquer life as a young individual. The audience will follow her journey from grief, to release, and ultimately, to small resolutions that matter.

Director: Esther Bridget Joy

Writer: Esther Bridget Joy

Producer: Vanessa Agu

Cinematographer: Markus Sternecker

Designer: Sophie Crowley

Production Company: SAE Sydney

“Pain can change you or you can walk away from it, but to transform pain into a subjective visual experience has been immensely satisfying. Within pain exists self-discovery, softness, and the magic that exists within surrender, and I hope the audience gets a taste of that from this film.

Instruct Me Please is a coming-of-age film set in the city of Sydney and its surrounds. Bars, homes, house parties, creeks and hearty suburbia. The choice to be in the midst of it or stay in and isolated. Outstretched hands of loved ones and the threat of monotonous fluorescent lights. The beautiful bush surrounding Sydney was intently placed as a channel of healing, and a tribute to the beauty that exists around us here.” - part of a director’s statement by Esther Bridget Joy