Karen Anstee

EDIFICE 129 (2024) Co-Producer | Writer / Director

In a surreal future world, where a sinister force requires everyone to "Keep the Silence", the isolated residents of Edifice 129 struggle to keep a sense their self and sanity. Years in the making, this project was born of the Collaboration Across Borders initiative, a groundbreaking idea that brought international writer-directors together (online) during the pandemic lockdowns to collaborate on a film. Not an anthology but a single narrative work, filmed across multiple countries but set in one location, by filmmakers who had never met before but are now friends. edifice: i a large, imposing building ii a complex system of beliefs

FIREBIRD (2022) Director | Executive Producer | Screenwriter

In a surreal world where no one really knows what day it is, and a sinister force requires everyone to “Keep the Silence”, a musician counts the days until she will be allowed to perform again. When music is silenced so is humanity. This film is a sonic odyssey which explores the complexity of "silence" and the overwhelming emotional impact and importance of music in our lives. Firebird was originally conceived as part of an experimental, collaborative, year-long lockdown venture with European filmmakers in Germany, Spain, Malta, and Italy. Developed through twice weekly zoom meetings, the films are designed to work both as standalones and when woven into each other to form one story / film, EDIFICE 129, which gives the impression that the whole film was shot in one location, at one time, despite being filmed in multiple countries and the filmmakers never having met previously, or in person yet. Edifice 129 is currently in post-production.

APPROVAL NEEDED (2018) Executive Producer | Screenwriter | Writer / Director

After a day that just can't get any worse, a lonely traffic warden finds an unexpected friends and love at the supermarket self-checkout.

LIVING WITH HONOR (2019) Executive Producer | Screenwriter | Writer / Director

Teaser for feature film pitch presentation. As a mysterious enemy closes in on their isolated farmhouse, two sisters prepare for the fight for their lives, but old wounds prove more dangerous.

RACHEL (2016) Executive Producer | Screenwriter | Writer / Director

A young woman fights from beyond the grave to have her last wishes fulfilled, despite the protests of her stubborn and deeply religious father.