Production Underway on "ATLAS"

Australian Filmmaker Directs Actors Across Six US Cities

A scene from upcoming short film ATLAS Ⓒ Presidential Productions

Production on ATLAS represents a bold reimagining of how intimate cinema can be made across distance. Rather than bringing cast and crew together in a single location, director James Cunningham developed the project as a fully remote collaboration, working individually with six actors across the United States over several months.

Each performer collaborated with the Australian director, self-filmed their scenes within their own bathroom, transforming domestic spaces into cinematic environments. Cunningham guided every aspect of the process remotely, carefully curating framing, lighting, production design, and performance to ensure visual and emotional consistency across vastly different locations.

This method allowed the actors to fully inhabit their environments, removing the artificiality often introduced by traditional film sets. By working alone, the performers were able to access a level of vulnerability rarely captured on camera. The resulting performances feel unguarded and deeply personal, reinforcing the film’s exploration of masculinity away from public scrutiny.

Despite the logistical challenges of remote filmmaking, ATLAS maintains a coherent visual language. Repetition of space, framing, and ritual creates a shared rhythm, while subtle differences in each bathroom reflect the individuality of the men within them. Cunningham describes the final result as a “collaborative performance with a unified voice,” shaped through trust between actor and director.

ATLAS

ATLAS

The production model also reflects the film’s themes. Just as Atlas bears his weight alone, each performer carried responsibility for their own filming process, supported by careful direction rather than physical presence. This mirrored isolation became part of the storytelling itself, embedding meaning directly into the film’s form. ATLAS stands as a compelling example of how limitations — distance, solitude, minimal resources — can be transformed into artistic strengths when aligned with a clear conceptual vision.

For more information, visit presproductionsco.com

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