The project, which is organized in partnership with The Guardian newspaper and supported by Bloomberg, will comprise four short films, with Jude Law to star in the next one later this year, written by Belarus Free Theatre and Laura Wade. It will be followed by a film written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who stars in Aimé Césaire’s A Season in the Congo at the Young Vic this summer.

The project began in March 2012 with "Epithet," a short film inspired by Edward Bond’s Bingo starring Patrick Stewart, directed by Angus Jackson, written by Mark O. Rowe and filmed by BAFTA award-winning cinematographer David Higgs. It was followed by "Nora" in October 2012, a short inspired by Carrie Cracknell's A Doll's House at the Young Vic, written by Cracknell and Nick Payne and starring Hattie Morahan in the title role. Since its launch it has been viewed over 40,000 times.



According to press materials, the project offers a unique creative collaboration which gives exceptional theatrical talent an opportunity to work in the field of film. The brief for each film is simple: to make a short film inspired by a Young Vic show which is bold in its approach.  By pairing them with leading professionals in the film industry, theatre directors are provided with a platform to showcase their talent to a large international audience on the Guardian website. The films are edited by the Guardian's multimedia team and are hosted on both the Guardian and Young Vic websites at youngvic.org/YVshorts and guardian.co.uk/stage.



In a press statement, David Lan, artistic director of the theatre, commented, "If we have a policy at the Young Vic it’s to do things we’ve never done before.  We’d never made films.  Offering our directors a chance to make these short films has moved us all on in excitingly unexpected ways.  We have three physical stages in the Young Vic.  Our short films are becoming our fourth.  We are particularly grateful for the support Bloomberg have given us, enabling this brilliant new lease of creative life."