Swollen Feet was created as Jonah Stern’s senior thesis project for his undergrad major at the University of Pennsylvania, Visual Studies.  The film, which is 75 minutes long, is silent in that it has no spoken dialogue.

About the Movie

With the help of his Cinema Studies adviser, Meta Mazaj, Jonah researched movies from the Silent Film Era and the methods they used to communicate narratives visually.  He also explored the use of sound, both abstract and literal, in those early movies as well as in later movies that utilized sound creatively outside of audible speaking.

Then, with the help of his Fine Arts adviser, filmmaker Ellen Reynolds, a budget of around $1000, and feedback from his fellow majors and major advisers, Jonah applied the principles, ideas, techniques, and philosophies to a new movie; which was conceived, constructed, and created with every accessible innovation in filmmaking and filmmaking technology in mind or in use.