“A compelling drama that taps into the harsh reality of social media. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ”
WATCH film
Content Warning: Cyberbullying
Written and Directed by Danielle Baynes
An anxious teenager falls into a suffocating online vortex one night after school, and struggles to fight her way to freedom.
Winner - Audience Choice Award Freshflix 2022
Official Selection Lift Off Los Angeles 2022
Official Selection Hollywood Shortsfest 2022
Official Selection Venezia Shorts 2022
“The world of cyber-bulling and online commentary is not an easy topic to broach, let alone capture the emotion and energy of something so intangible, really well done. By the end, I could hardly stand hearing another buzz from her phone.”
“Through few words and narrative power, COMMENTS builds on the talent of Baynes to tell a bitter story of immense importance and truth.”
ABOUT
COMMENTS is a gut-wrenching 10 min film tackling cyberbullying, mental health and the impact of social media on young people, written and directed by new filmmaking talent, Danielle Baynes.
Inspired by shocking revelations from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen that exposed Instagram’s secret internal research, explicitly stating “we make body-image issues worse for one in three teenage girls", and in light of Australia’s e-Safety research that found 1 in 5 Australian young people reported being socially excluded, threatened or abused online, but only 51% of parents say they were aware of their children’s cyberbullying.
An almost wordless film, COMMENTS features a chilling score by ARIA Award-winning composer/producer One Above (Hilltop Hoods, Sia) and sound design by Emmy Award-winner, Sam Hayward (Beat Bugs, Babyteeth).
COMMENTS crawls inside the device and under the skin of one teen, over one night, during an exhausting war of words.
CAMPAIGN
WORDS ARE ALL WE HAVE.
YOU DECIDE HOW TO USE THEM.
JOIN THE COMMENTS CAMPAIGN TO RAISE AWARENESS OF BULLYING PREVENTION AND SUPPORT OUR YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES.
1 in 5 young Australians reported being socially excluded, threatened or abused online.
1 in 5 young Australians admitted behaving in a negative way to a peer online.
SHARE THE FILM AND START A DISCUSSION
Share the film with friends, family and your community. Start a discussion and encourage your peers and loved ones to ask for help if they need it.
Check out the list of mental health service organisations in the RESOURCES tab.