SYNOPSIS
Raymond White is sick, old and lonely. Driven into his bare flat by the rough, tough city, his only remaining passions in life are his old boxing trophies and his Shopmobility. Even eating is an ordeal for Raymond: he can’t afford to buy good food, and even if he could the ordeals of inner-city Manchester make collecting it too much to bear.
Raymond settles down for the night with a piece of mouldy bread and the television. But when a lottery win offers Raymond the chance of something bigger, he decides to face up to his fears, and to head out into the urban jungle just one last time.
The journey to pick up his winnings is fraught with peril: the screaming of the traffic, the threatening youths in the park, and the odd-looking beggar, all help to terrify him and place further pressure on his ailing heart.
But Raymond manages to overcome all of these obstacles and collect his winnings. He leaves the newsagent’s a happy man … only to find that, in his rush to pick up the big prize, he has managed to lose something far more valuable.
What Raymond does next, and how he chooses between fear and action, riches and fun, makes for a moving and shocking story.
THE CHARIOT
The Chariot is a darkly humorous short film which pits a scared, sickly old man against
the urban jungle, forcing him to fight for the one thing he truly loves: his Shopmobility
Shot on the streets of Manchester in early 2010, The Chariot is the third collaboration of an award-winning, up-and-coming film-making team from Manchester (UK). The film was made with the support of lottery funds as distributed by Vision+Media and the UK Film Council.
The Chariot is available for festivals and screenings now.
Short Fiction
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Runtime: 12 Minutes
Shooting format: HD
Production: Spring 2010
The Chariot is made by Cockle Productions.