Written, directed, and photographed by Ion Peia.
London. Ten years together. One night to decide if that's enough.
On the night of their tenth anniversary, Rachel and Mark’s celebration takes a hard turn. Two people who thought they knew each other are about to find out how deeply they can hurt each other, and what can never be undone.
15 minutes · one house · one night
It's their anniversary. Ten years, a house full of friends, a decade of soft jazz and good wine. When the guests leave, the warmth leaves with them. What's left is a kitchen full of dirty plates, a half-finished book, and a question neither of them has said out loud in two years: what is actually still "theirs"?
In the middle of the fight, the film cuts to a beach in Cornwall, years earlier, before the house, before the book, before the silence. Mark and Rachel, young and unguarded. It's here, playing in the sand, that Rachel first says she wants a child. The present only gets crueler once we've seen it.
Back in the present, Mark says the thing that can't be unsaid. Rachel goes upstairs alone. In the bathroom, she finds the test she's been avoiding. It turns positive. The film ends before she decides anything, leaving her alone with the test and a locked door.
One choice, alone…
Sweet Tease is about which parts of a shared life were never actually shared.
£25,000 to £27,000
One house, one night, and one flashback exterior keep the shoot lean: a small cast, a small crew, and a single unit day on the beach. That scope is what lets a modest budget cover a fully realised short, built for festival submission rather than a stretched-out production.
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The party is warm, all candlelight, wine, and other people's laughter. The kitchen turns colder as it empties. The bathroom, at the end, is the coldest room in the film: small, and finally hers alone.
Daytime interiors are staged near windows, letting real light do the heavy lifting. Taking cues from Terrence Malick and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the key light drifts in from one side, soft and organic, gently wrapping the actors in a living glow.
Every scene is carried on a single 24mm prime. It's wide enough to give the emotion room to breathe, and close enough to sit uncomfortably, beautifully close, offering a direct line to the inner life of this couple.
Owns the house. Has the better job. Her father employs Mark. She has spent years being generous with everything except the one thing Mark says she's withholding.
Writing a book that's "theirs" but mostly his. Works for his partner's father. Charming at parties, and increasingly unable to separate performing happiness from feeling it.
We're targeting festivals across North America, Europe, Africa, South Asia, and Australia, on circuits with strong programming for relationship dramas and women-centred short work.
Full festival list and submission calendar available on request.
Ion Peia - Writer, Director, and DOP
Aurimas Sapolas - Gaffer
Martin Razopov - Actor as Mark
Anita Brajkovich - Actress as Rachel
We're still building out the rest of the crew, starting with a producer to help shape the shoot and the budget.
A single location, a confirmed cast, and one unit day on a beach make this a short built to be efficient without feeling small.
We're looking for a producer to help finalise the budget, assemble the rest of the crew, and get this shot and into the festival circuit.
In return: a producer credit on a festival-ready short, built around a real, contained shoot.
Get in touch for the full budget breakdown.
Sweet Tease doesn't argue a position; it refuses to resolve for the audience. The film ends the way these decisions actually happen: alone, in a small room, with no one else's voice in it.
We're looking for funding partners aligned with reproductive autonomy who want their support behind a piece of narrative work, not a campaign film.
In return: visibility as a supporting partner at every festival screening, and an optional post-screening conversation tied to your work.
Ion Peia, writer, director & DOP
Canning Town, London, UK
07551 927 149
ionpeia.art@gmail.com
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