Things are a bit off at the Anderson home. Young Chester has a fixation with the toilet and a propensity towards kleptomania. His sister Eliza, a closet voyeur, likes her Paint by Numbers set a little too much. Poor Godfrey, buoyed by an awe for the horticultural, can't tell the difference between the things he loves and the things he wants to eat. And matriarch Maud devotes her days to filling the stomachs of her little ones. Until today! Chester, Eliza and Godfrey have had enough! Join them as they heroically decline their invitation to dinner.

Jamie Travis
Writer/Director/Production Designer/Co-Producer

Travis graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) with a BA in film studies. The first film he wrote and directed at UBC, Diary of an Insomniac (2002), screened at the Montreal World Film Festival. WHY THE ANDERSON CHILDREN DIDN'T COME TO DINNER served as his graduating project with A.J. Bond and Amy Belling. The film premiered at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival and has played more than fifty international film festivals since. At the 2004 Leo Awards, British Columbia's only film and television awards ceremony, Travis won the Leo for Best Production Design in a Short Drama (his other nominations included Best Direction, Best Script and Best Short Drama); and at Canada's Golden Sheaf Awards, Travis won for Best Script. Alongside Bond and Belling (the three have formed a company, Modern Family Productions--modernfamily.ca),Travis is currently in preproduction for a short film, The Saddest Boy in the World. His first feature script, I Hate White Rabbits, is nearing completion. WHY THE ANDERSON CHILDREN DIDN'T COME TO DINNER continues to play in festivals worldwide.

A.J. Bond
Editor/Co-Producer

Bond started his film career as an actor, lending his voice to the children's series Madeline, as well as appearing in several Canadian films including Kitchen Party (1997) and Better Than Chocolate (1999). Bond is now pursuing a career behind the camera. He recently graduated from the University of British Columbia’s film program, where he wrote and directed a short film titled Repeat (2002). He has edited several short projects and is currently writing a short film of his own.

Amy Belling
Director of Photography/Sound Designer/Co-Producer

Belling is a producer and cinematographer working in Vancouver, and a recent graduate of the University of British Columbia film program. She is the producer and production manager of an independent short, Once A Fish, and also the production manager and cinematographer of a new documentary series on seminal Canadian films for Bravo TV, which is shooting in Toronto, L.A. and Vancouver. On the opposite side of the festival fence, she has worked as the Canadian Images program assistant at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival and is the Canadian Images coordinator for 2004. She also worked for the Kingston Canadian Film Festival as a program consultant. WHY THE ANDERSON CHILDREN DIDN'T COME TO DINNER was her graduating film from UBC with Jamie Travis and A.J. Bond. She received three Leo Award nominations in 2004 for the film, including Cinematography, Sound Design and Best Film in the short film category. At UBC's Persistence of Vision festival, Belling received awards for Outstanding Cinematography, Best Film and Audience Favorite for this film.

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DVD copies of WHY THE ANDERSON CHILDREN DIDN'T COME TO DINNER are available from the filmmaker. Write to jamietravis@shaw.ca for more information.