A man holding a young boy outdoors near a body of water with trees and leaves in the background. The child looks up with surprise. The image features text describing the documentary film 'Elliot' by Ryan Shepherd, with awards from film festivals.

Elliott

Documentary short

2020

Elliott is a snapshot of urban parenting at the COVID-19 pandemic's midpoint: a changed world seen through the eyes of a toddler who knows no different, while his parents try to keep life together in the confines of their small Boston apartment. Shot over a few days with very basic equipment, this short film was a chance to tell a story that’s intimate, direct, and likely to resonate with anyone challenged with raising a child during COVID’s peak.

This was Ryan’s solo project after many years of editing docs professionally. Elliott grew out of the Documentary Film Criticism and Theory class at the University of Maine, which centers around the Camden International Film Festival, and helped complete his Bachelor of Arts in New Media following a sixteen year absence.

Selection — Newburyport Documentary Film Festival (2021)
Semi-Finalist — Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival (2021)

  • Elliott walking a stone wall outdoors, holding the hand of his mother, who is masked.

    01

  • Elliott and his father, masked, take a walk on a vacant street in Boston.

    02

  • Liz Carnes Flynn and Jared Flynn, Elliott's parents, working in their living room now doubling as an improvised home office.

    03

  • A quiet moment between Elliott and his mom, Liz, on their living room couch.

    04

  • Elliott and his father Jared, masked, exploring a tree at Jamaica Pond in Boston.

    05