To “write what you know” is some of the most common advice screenwriters get. Some people disagree on the absolute efficacy of this advice—ahem, Jason Hellerman—but the fact remains that often, your unique perspective and experience won’t see the light of day unless you bring it to the screen.
Sundance Film Festival is one of the best places in the film/TV industry to explore new points of view. For instance, the short film Unholy features a young woman who is chronically ill and using a feeding tube. The project is part of this year’s fest in the shorts program.
Writer/director Daisy Friedman took inspiration from her own experience as a feeding tube user to tell a story about a young woman struggling to connect with family and faith in the face of her illness.
We chatted with Friedman about her project ahead of the festival to get her advice for tackling such a personal project.
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No Film School: What did your writing process on this project look like?
Daisy Friedman: The script first started out as a short story for one of my classes in college. Shortly after writing it, I realized that I really wanted to write it as a screenplay, just because there’s so much visual and auditory texture to a Seder that you can’t portray in a story.
Once the first draft was written, I drafted with my producers quite a few times to make sure we were making it as impactful of a story as possible.
The scriptwriting process was really fun as well because I pulled a lot of direct quotes from things either my family has said to me, or people out in the world who hear about my transplant. It was a really great exercise in melding fiction and lived experience.
NFS: Noa goes through a lot emotionally in this short. What part of her experience did you find hardest to translate to the screen?
Friedman: I think the hardest part to translate to the screen was finding a proper balance between humor and anxiety. When people hear about the film, they automatically assume it’s a straight drama or a really sad story, but I really wanted to make sure that every part of it, from the acting to the camera work, felt nuanced and even humorous at times.
Always remembering to maintain a balance of heart and humor was a challenge, but a really incredible feeling that we pulled it off.
Danny Burstein, Olivia Nikkanen, Roberta Pikser, Laura Patinkin, and Sajid Cohen-Erziak appear in Unholy by Daisy Friedman, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. via Sundance Institute | photo by Kevin Xian Ming Yu
NFS: Many filmmakers struggle to get personal stories right. What advice would you give someone adapting their own experience into a project like this?
Friedman: I think starting with something that is deeply personal, but not an entirely true story, really helps.
For example, I was too young to remember the Passover Seders I went to when I was still a feeding tube user, but I do know how it feels for your health to influence the way your family sees you.
I always say that my films are emotionally biographical, and that’s what I always think is the most beneficial to draw from. Think about how you felt in the situation you’re trying to tell a story about, and then go from there.
NFS: You’re telling a story that hasn’t been seen much in film. How did that affect your choices as you were making this?
Friedman: I was very conscious of the fact that this story hasn’t been seen much on screen. I wanted to make sure that not only was it as authentic as possible, but we were exposing people to the details of this story that they may not know about if they haven’t experienced it firsthand.
For example, the pump sound you hear is from a real feeding tube pump, the same brand that I used as a kid. The shot of the feeding tube itself is a real feeding tube that we stuck on me, right over the scar where I used to have one.
I wanted anybody who has ever lived this experience to be able to feel authentically represented and taken care of by this film.
Danny Burstein and Olivia Nikkanen appear in Unholy by Daisy Friedman, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. via Sundance Institute | photo by Kevin Xian Ming Yu
NFS: What was your biggest technical challenge?
Friedman: The biggest technical challenge was figuring out how to shoot the table scene. I wanted it to feel as chaotic and overwhelming as possible but needed to also make sure that each line of dialogue could be heard.
We actually ended up creating a “dialogue map” so that we could coordinate the camera movement with the dialogue.
NFS: What advice would you give a director taking on their first short?
Friedman: It sounds cheesy, but just do it.
I made my first short film when I was a sophomore in college during the semester, and it ended up going to over 30 film festivals. It’s never too early or too late to do it. If you have a story you want to tell, you have everything you need inside of you to tell it.
NFS: Anything you’d like to add?
I think despite all the scary things going on in the world, people shouldn’t forget there is such a need for authentic disabled stories. We’re not going anywhere in media or in any other space for that matter.
Keep writing, keep creating, because that’s how we’ll all get through.
Author: Jo Light
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
