Short Films in Focus: Bouncy Brothers (with Nicholas J. Santore)

Summer fairs and street festivals are full of bouncy houses. But have you ever wondered who hauls them there, inflates them, tests them, then deflates, rolls up, trailers them back, hoses them down, and rents them out again?

A one-man business that won't hold

Anthony Glazier moved away from his family to run a bouncy house rental in rural Florida. His office is an overturned bucket for a chair and a real chair for a desk. He listens to voicemails on a landline - workers calling in sick, customers cancelling orders.

Each call means this month's rent, bills, and any savings shrinking. Desperate, Anthony phones his brother Ted. Ted, a high school teacher, decides to spend the whole summer in Florida to get Anthony's business back on track.

Brothers in the lens

Director Nicholas Santore, their nephew, filmed for a week, capturing the brothers cleaning, repairing, and hauling inflatables together. He realized Ted wasn't there just to save the business, but Anthony himself.

Anthony says, 'Trust is hard to find, and I trust my brother more than anybody.' Santore says the short film is about leaving family to chase a dream, the dream not being what it's cracked up to be, and what it really looks like to have family by your side.

A year later, Santore added an ending, showing the brothers' bond still strong. Like bouncy houses, brotherhood needs maintenance and care to last.