QUITARSE EL MUERTO

Dead Weight is a short film written and directed by William Miller, produced by Qstom Films, and starring Sergio Bieto, William Miller, Bego Sánchez, Alfons Toda, Jasmine Serra, and Joaquín Villa. The story moves from an everyday situation into increasingly darker, more uncomfortable, and morally murky territory, building tension through silences, decisions, and the behavior of its characters.

One of its most effective devices is the decision to conceal the face of the character who embodies the threat until the final stretch. That choice heightens uncertainty and turns his presence into something more oppressive and unsettling, sustaining much of the story’s suspense.

On a visual level, the short combines naturalistic cinematography in its opening with a progression toward a much more closed, contrasted, and suffocating nocturnal atmosphere. The image works with dense blacks, isolated warm lights, and dirty tones that accompany the emotional descent of the story, while the editing builds an increasingly tense progression without ever breaking the narrative mood.

Another of its most distinctive features is the absence of a conventional soundtrack, replaced by rhythms and percussion sounds that function as the story’s internal pulse and reinforce its dryness, tension, and discomfort.

Premiered in 2025 at the Tarazona and Moncayo International Film Festival, Getting Rid of the Dead Weight has been selected at several international festivals and won the awards for Best Noir Short Film and Best Cinematography at the 2025 Oriana Awards, held in Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona)