Peter Sapira received his BA in English from San Francisco State University and his MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He teaches composition and public speaking at Smith College where he also directs a creative writing program for high school students. Peter has been publishing short stories and working on a novel over the past few years, when he realized that short films were the most powerful medium through which to share the themes he explores in his writing: finding humor in the small but excruciating social disasters we all face each day. His dream is to produce a TV series based on his novel and protagonist, “Billy Hill.”
Director Statement
As someone who fulfills all the criteria on the ADHD checklist, I have always been obsessed with order and control while simultaneously living in bumbling disarray. I wrote “Lost Keys” because I wanted to dramatize the insanity that overcomes me when I lose my keys (or any other object). I realized that beyond “annoyed,” I start to hate myself and everything in my life. As my desperation and frustration grows, and as I am reduced to searching in the freezer and the trash, I start finding fault with anyone who lives with me. Thankfully, this experience has always remained an internal disaster, but after developing some objectivity, I started to see the humor in this pattern, so I wanted to dramatize this lunacy in hopes that other people could see themselves in, and laugh at, the struggle.
Under 5 minute & Smartphone festival 