There are few things more unsettling than watching an unsupervised young boy find a handgun while playing on a rooftop in New York City. On one hot summer day in Brooklyn, with various targets to train his angelic eyes on, no one is safe in director Frank Jerky's short film SIX. Playing with fantasy and sound that heighten the tension and threat of violence, the film serves as part of a greater discussion on gun violence in the United States. SIX premiered at the Rooftop Film Festival in 2014 and has gone on to receive critical acclaim in festivals around the world. In anticipation of its online release this month, we talked with Jerky (born Francesco Carnesecchi), a native Italian, about his film.

SIX takes place in New York, but you wrote it while living in Italy. Did you have New York in mind from the beginning?

No. It is not important where you are when you have a gun pointed at your face. Of course, here in the US this is a very sensitive topic, but that wasn’t my first thought.

Most of the action takes place on a rooftop in Brooklyn. Where exactly did you shoot and how did you find this location?

We shot in Bushwick, Brooklyn for four long days. Producer Ella Nuortila, production designer Mattia Minasi and I had been looking for a big, ruined rooftop surrounded by empty streets for three months. You can imagine that having empty streets in New York with no budget is pretty hard. Luckily, some parts of Bushwick like Morgan Avenue and Jefferson Street are just perfect, especially during the weekend when all the truck stations and the factories are closed and there is no one around. You've got these huge buildings in the middle of industrial zones where you can feel pretty lonely. That was perfect for SIX, and the atmosphere I wanted to give.

SIX is not only powerful in its message about children and gun safety in the US, but it’s also stylish and imaginative. Were you ever worried that your intentions would be lost in the sleekness of the film?

No, actually I believe that the style of the movie helps the message a lot. The main character is a nine-year-old boy. I tell this story from his eyes, his point of view. When you have a little kid playing around, there is a very thin line between reality and imagination. I believe this doubt makes this movie very powerful. Whatever this kid is doing, for him it's just a new game, and that makes him even more dangerous.

How were you able to maintain the seriousness of the story with all the elements of fantasy?

When you have a young kid holding a gun, it's pretty simple. You just have to go slowly further and further and the audience will do the rest. People get scared with SIX because a nine-year-old kid can kill innocently. That makes people feel unsafe.

What inspired the story?

I wanted to write something about human fears. To go deep inside our feelings, reactions and, of course, play with clichés. I was thinking, what is the scariest thing for me? A young boy with a gun. He is dangerous and innocent at the same time, and this makes him unpredictable. That was the perfect start for the story I wanted to tell.

The music in SIX is very important to the film, which also has a western element. Why did you choose the soundtrack? Was it always in your mind to link the music to that cowboy/gunslinger trope?

One of the key elements of the narrative of SIX is the bumping vintage stereo. I just wanted to have great songs coming out of those speakers, and as a big rock 'n' roll, fan I chose this music. I also thought it was a great contrast with the kid's actions. These songs make everything lighter, and if you think about what kind of actions [can result from a kid with a gun], this is even scarier, or at least it is for me.

About the western element, honestly, it's not something I had in mind from the beginning. I had been discussing it with the director of photography Stefano Ferrari for a long time. I wanted to give the audience the point of view of the kid. For him it is just a toy. Stefano made me understand that the western style was just perfect to make it happen, and editor Giovanni Pompetti completed my wishes with the perfect rhythm of the cuts. Sometimes during the screenings, when the audience sees that sequence, I hear them laughing, so I smile. I look at them and think, there is a nine-year-old boy firing a gun and you are laughing about it.

Who is the music by?

Well, we have a great rock 'n' roll selection, from the most famous Johnny Cash version of "Devil's Right Hand" re-recorded by our sound designer Paul Vitolins, to the lesser known "Rock and Roll's Arrived" by Just Bob. I want to thank two amazing Italian bands because I wanted their songs so badly, and they donated them to me just because they loved the film: "Crooked Systems of the Mind" by Narayan Core and "The Rabbit Song" by The Wavers.

The cast is mostly children. What was it like casting the film?

It was fun. Usually you give actors a monologue or a scene, they learn it, and then you make them do it. But with kids it's different. You gotta pay attention to more details, especially in this case where there was almost no dialogue in the script. You gotta talk with them, see if they are shy, if they follow your directions, and most importantly, if they are having fun. Trust me, there is no worst situation on set than finding yourself with a crew and a kid that is bored as hell. Everything can go out of control in a few seconds, and this is something that you never want to happen when you're shooting and everything needs to be under control. But in the end, I had a great casting director, Laura Gasperini. She did a great job, and we picked 5 amazing kids.

What was it like working with the young actors?

I love it! In school they worry you. They tell you that it's dangerous, especially in independent projects like this where there is no time for mistakes. Kids can fuck everything up in a second. But I have to say that I love working with them and I don't find this school advice completely true. Actually, somehow I believe that working with young actors is much easier than working with adults. Of course you need to pay attention to every single cut because they never stop playing, especially when there are a lot. But when it's time to work, when you call action, it's more simple for them to give you what you need. It's just the way they listen and see things that is different. They are kind of magic. We all have been kids but at some point we have lost that magic. You remember it but you just don't have it anymore. That's why working with them for me is beautiful. They make me see things through their eyes.

What kinds of conversations do you want people to have after seeing SIX?

There are roughly 300 millions guns in United States, 270 people are shot every day, 85 people die, and six are children. Every two years, there are more victims by gunfire than the entire Vietnam War [casualty], and this is just in the United States. We don't need SIX to talk about it, we have numbers.

SIX is now available on Vimeo. Click here to watch.