Five Stories for Makers of Short Films

By Robert James Tootell

Five stories to whet the appetite of film makers from all over the world. With the numbers of short film festivals increasing year on year, here are five unusual and thought-provoking stories which can be adapted into memorable short films. Copyright to these original stories are up for grabs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert James Tootell
• Release date: Jan 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9780955694066

Robert James Tootell

Welcome everyone,Here is a quick list of my literary efforts so far:A Cafe in Kazimierz and other stories (Paperback, 2002)Krakow Stories and Stranger Things Than This (Paperback, 2008)Krakow Stories and Stranger Things Than This (E-book, 2009)Stranger Things Than This (E-book, 2010)Selected Stories and Poems (E-book, 2011)Five Stories for Makers of Short Films (E-book, 2012)Luke (E-book, 2012)Clootie's Cover (E-book, 2012)Kiskutya (E-book, 2012)I'm currently studying for an MA in Scriptwriting at Glamorgan University, and recommend it for anyone and everyone who is interested in learning this craft - it's a brilliant course with brilliant tutors.Back to me! Here are some of my favourite stories and books:The Three Lilies by Jan Neruda;In a Far Distant Land, Light Breathing, In Paris, et al, by Ivan Bunin;The Bishop, The Artist's Story, Rothchild's Fiddle, by Anton Chekhov;Red Cavalry, The Tales of Odessa, by Isaac Babel;Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal;Gimpel the Fool, The Cabalist of East Broadway, by IB Singer;Klingsor's Last Summer by Hermann Hesse.Dark Avenues by Ivan Bunin;The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell;The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller;Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves;The Radetsky March by Joseph Roth;The Red and the Black by Stendhal;The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino;War and Peace by Lev Tolstoy;The Drowned and the Saved, Moments of Reprieve, by Primo Levi.Currently living in France and writing for radio.

Book preview

Five Stories

For Makers of Short Films

Robert James Tootell

©2012 Robert James Tootell

All rights reserved

Published in 2012 by Robert James Tootell

at Smashwords

The author can be contacted at:

[e-mail]

CONTENTS

A Little Street Theatre

A Winter’s Tale

All Souls' Eve

Boruta!

The Birds and the Bees

***

A Little Street Theatre

It was a bad omen, such a fine, cloudless morning on the first day of a new show!

He strolled through the picturesque town and arrived at the riverbank with time to spare. But where were the usual crowds of onlookers and children? Where the flute-music, the stalls? He walked across the bridge. Taped to the old stone wall was a poster, 'Show Canseled'. Cancelled! For what reason? He looked up at the blue sky, dropped his arms. Well, and what now? He looked around absently, smiling bitterly, and came to the only sensible conclusion, the antidote to disappointment - he would take a long walk, as he always did when life frustrated him, which was often. It mattered not in which direction...

Having ambled along the bank for an hour or so he noticed on the other side of the river a small, pleasant-looking cafe with a couple of tables outside. Yes! Iced lemonade - that was just what he needed... He looked behind him... no bridge! He didn't remember passing one... but he couldn't see one further up either... Just then, a young girl came out of the cafe and began wiping the tables. She stopped and looked up. He could see her quite