Merchant and Ivory films may make you think of lavish settings and complex emotions. James Ivory and Ismail Merchant collaborated on 43 films. Merchant Ivory, from director Stephen Soucy, is a look at their decades-long partnership, which was not only professional,...
Paradise Is Burning, from director Mika Gustafson,seems to be a story of youth and freedom, but is this really freedom? It is a coming-of-age story, but the passages that it marks have less to do with adulthood than with survival. Three sisters, Laura (16), Mira (12),...
Time to dip into some more of the animation at HollyShorts Film Festival. Area 52 (4 minutes, US, directed by Emily Dubovi) takes place in a lesser known scientific site. While great minds try to solve mysteries of the universe in Area 51, less than stellar minds are...
Like all film festivals, HollyShorts can be a little dark at times, so it’s time to take in some comedy. Libbi’s Trying (10 minutes, US, directed by Andrew Carter). Libbi is a struggling actor and single mom. She’s tries to negotiates with her ex to be able to use...
Films clearly have the ability to point to important ideas. Among the films at HollyShorts Film Festival are some that aim to have “Social Impact”. These are stories that ask us to see things that may need changing—or perhaps just inviting us to care. What We Wished...
HollyShorts Film Festival has plenty of documentaries. Today I look at some from the documentary section, and from a new section they have this year: Sports (which are also docs). Whitney Houston in Focus (34 minutes, US, directed by Benjamin Alfonsi) is pretty much...
Among the films at HollyShorts Film Festival are some that deal with what they call “Golden Age”—about the later years of life. Since I qualify for inclusion in that demographic, it seems like I should watch some of these films. Jellyfish and Lobster (20 minutes, UK,...
The Hollyshorts program for rom-coms is about relationships more than romance, but that works out fine for short films. Some of the films in this section were films that were by or about people with disabilities. Audio Description (5 minutes, US, directed by Luke J....
Since the war began, more than 15 million Ukrainians have left their country seeking safety. In the Rearview is a documentary that takes place mostly inside a van filled with various people on their journey to an unknown future. When the war started and many people...