Answer The Telephone

Answer the Telephone is a surreal psychological short set in an abandoned warehouse, where Adam is forced to take part in a strange, ever-shifting experiment built around a single instruction: answer the telephone.

But nothing in this place follows logic. The rules change without warning. The environment bends, multiplies, or turns against him. Each test becomes more absurd than the last, overseen by faceless authorities who treat his suffering like routine procedure.

As Adam struggles to keep up with impossible expectations, the experiment exposes the absurdity of systems designed to break the individual — a dark and unsettling reflection on power, compliance, and the pressure to perform in a world that never plays fair.

“We are not making a traditional short film — this is an experiment. ANSWER THE TELEPHONE places our actor, Tom Donaghue, inside a controlled and ever-changing environment. Each variant is presented to him as real, unpredictable, and impossible. His authentic reactions will define the direction of the film.

The film features figures of faceless authority (The Chairman, Elizabeth) who manipulate Adam like a lab rat. This evolution makes the film not only about one man’s psychological breakdown, but also about the systems and hierarchies that engineer it.

Influenced by Beckett, Lynch, and Lanthimos, we want to capture a world where logic is weaponized, choice is meaningless, and failure is inevitable. Anyone who has felt suffocated by bureaucracy, corporate culture, or shifting rules will recognise Adam’s despair. The story is absurd, terrifying, and uncomfortably familiar.”

Written and Directed by Reece McCullagh

Produced by Sam Hackney-Ring and Linda-Ray Ndlovu

Featuring

Tom Donaghue as Adam

Maura Lub as Elizabeth

Jamie Rowley and Steven Hart as The Attendants

Set Design by Thananya Kaewsanthia

Costumes by Leannah Gardner

Makeup by Nell Halls

Production Stills - taken by Abby Swain Photography

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