New short film ‘Gun’ aims to explore complicated world of guns

Today, President Obama is announcing new gun control measures aimed at curbing gun violence across the country. In the midst of all the gun talk, writer/director Spencer Gillis’ short film “Gun” beat out 8,000 entries to be one of 85 premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. He joins Soledad on “Starting Point” to talk about his film.

The 17-minute short is from the perspective of someone that buys a gun for protection. Gillis says it’s not about making a statement but more about the concept of owning a gun. “It’s about the influence of power on the human mind,” he says. “You have a man who buys a gun and it leads to these dark fantasies that he starts to have and it just takes him down a path that could have very serious consequences.”

Gillis says he was raised with a complicated relationship with guns, growing up around them and strongly believing in the second amendment but having a firm understanding of control. Gillis hopes the film inspires people to get educated on guns.

“I think if people walk away provoked to think about the issue, to sort of re-examine the way that they look at the issue, that would be a success in my eyes because that means people are going to have a conversation about the film,” Gillis says.