2025
Lie Down, Breathe Out
World Premiere.
An anonymous patient wakes in a stark medical clinic, hurting and disoriented. Staff insist the procedure must proceed without pain relief: suffer now or suffer more later. As oddities multiply, hopes of escape dissolve into an oppressively surreal gauntlet. A claustrophobic horror about women’s bodily autonomy, told with precision, restraint and a backroom, institutional chill that leaves a mark.
Director
Gemma Salomon
Runtime
9 Minutes
Country
Australia
Classification
Unclassified 15+
A disoriented patient wakes in pain inside a strange medical clinic. She is told the procedure will be performed without pain relief: endure it now or face worse later. What begins as medical protocol curdles into an oppressively surreal ordeal, narrowing the chance of escape.
Adapted from a short story by Andrew Shillam and drawn from lived experience, Lie Down, Breathe Out channels a backroom, institutional aesthetic into a tightly wound nightmare about bodily autonomy. Gemma Salomon shapes the horror with claustrophobic control, refusing easy catharsis. The only way out is through.
Screening with Made in SA shorts:
Liability (David Daradan)
Tunnel Vision (Alex Salkicevic & Bryce Kraehenbuehl)
Into the Earth (Lucy Campbell)
7 Minutes to Rice (Manuel Ashman)
The Secret (Lilla Berry)
Alpha Test (Stephen Packer)
The Knight (Lotte Sweeney)
Adapted from a short story by Andrew Shillam and drawn from lived experience, Lie Down, Breathe Out channels a backroom, institutional aesthetic into a tightly wound nightmare about bodily autonomy. Gemma Salomon shapes the horror with claustrophobic control, refusing easy catharsis. The only way out is through.
Screening with Made in SA shorts:
Liability (David Daradan)
Tunnel Vision (Alex Salkicevic & Bryce Kraehenbuehl)
Into the Earth (Lucy Campbell)
7 Minutes to Rice (Manuel Ashman)
The Secret (Lilla Berry)
Alpha Test (Stephen Packer)
The Knight (Lotte Sweeney)
Film Credits
Director
Gemma Salomon
Year
2025
Country
Australia
Language
English
Type
Fiction & Short
Program Strand
Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund & Shorts
Producer
Lisa Bishop
Writer
Gemma Salomon
Cinematographer
Sam Twidale
Editor
Veronica Buhagiar
Cast
Jasmine Hope, Martha Lott & Mark Saturno
Music
Leigh Marsh
Film Source
Lisa Bishop
Genre
Drama, Horror, Psychological & Women
Screens As Part Of
Purchase Tickets
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