Independent Short Film

Highwaymen

Project: Narrative Short – Drama
Director: Lily Cunningham Perini
Producers: Mike Bloom & Lily Weisberg
Director of Photography: Katie Mlinek
Prod. Designer: Meave Cunningham Perini
Status: Post-Production

✦ Film Synopsis

On a family trip into the Mojave Desert, young mother Frankie and her two daughters encounter strangers on the road. The girls’ obsession with Western movies, fantasy books, and outlaw tales gets all of them into trouble.

✦ Overview

The production design grounded the film’s Western influences in a restrained, lived-in world—using vehicles, props, and environments to reflect both the characters’ interior lives and the escalating tension of the story.

The project included three picture cars, a dressed gas station exterior, and one dressed interior, along with a key roadside desert location. All props and set dressing were developed in-house, including a series of handmade taxidermy birds constructed from dried skins, wire armatures, clay, and glass eyes.

The film is currently in post-production. More stills coming soon.

A bird lying on the dirt with blood on its body and broken legs
Highwaymen Starling Bird Process Image
Close-up of a bunch of wild birds with brown and black patterned feathers, perched together indoors, with a living room and person talking on the phone in the background.
Five dead pheasants laid on a white towel.
Several bird feathers laid out on a white piece of paper on a green cutting mat with measurement markings. Part of a black and brown feathered bird is visible on the left side of the image.

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