<h1>Darrel Manson</h1>

Darrel Manson

Posts by Darrel Manson:

HollyShort Film Festival 2024: Sci-fi

HollyShort Film Festival 2024: Sci-fi

Aug 13, 2024

Today for HollyShorts, I’m taking a look at some sci-fi films that are part of the festival. Science fiction often offers us ways to look at our world as if from the outside. Good sci-fi is not about technology, per se, as much as it is about our humanity in whatever...

Join or Die: Can clubs save America?

Join or Die: Can clubs save America?

Jul 19, 2024

Very early on, Pete Davis (who directs and produces along with his sister Rebecca Davis) clearly states the premise of Join or Die: “This is a film of why you should join a club—and why the fate of America depends on it.” The film focuses on the work of Harvard...

Sisi & I: Friend or foe?

Sisi & I: Friend or foe?

Jul 12, 2024

“Being in her presence was like having all the world’s light shining upon you. But when she turned off that light, it was like a shard of glass piercing your heart.” From director and co-writer Frauke Finsterwalder, Sisi & I is a retelling of the story of...

June Zero: The edge of history

June Zero: The edge of history

Jun 26, 2024

Directed by Jake Paltrow, June Zero begins with the news that Adolf Eichmann has been sentenced to death by an Israeli court. This is not, however, a film about Eichmann or his trial. Rather it is a set of three stories that are on the periphery of that historical...

20,000 Species of Bees – Finding a true self

20,000 Species of Bees – Finding a true self

Jun 14, 2024

“Can I die and be reborn as a girl?” In Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species of Bees, an eight-year-old who is  experiencing gender dysphoria searches for an identity. The child’s mother has her own identity issues to deal with. How each sees themselves and...

Re: Uniting – Where life leads

Re: Uniting – Where life leads

May 30, 2024

“I think I missed it. ... Life.” In Re: Uniting, written and directed by Laura Adkin, a group of best friends come together twenty-five years after college. Their lives have taken them in a variety of directions. They are at a point where they are beginning to...

Three Promises: Home movies of a war zone

Three Promises: Home movies of a war zone

May 10, 2024

Three Promises, from Yousef Srouji, is the story of a family living through a very difficult situation—Palestine, during the Second Intifada. It is told through family videos taken by his mother, Suha, with voiceover commentary from Yousef’s interviews with her. The...