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live action shorts

Launchpad – Disney’s Gift of Shorts

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I’m always happy to promote short films as part of the entertainment landscape. Often the only chance people get to see shorts is at film festivals or during the Academy Awards season. But now Disney has created a program of live action shorts streaming on Disney+ called “Launchpad”. Disney describes the goal of “Launchpad” as “to diversify the types of stories that are being told and to give access to those who have historically not had it.” For their inaugural series they have chosen six filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds. The theme for this set of shorts is “Discovery”. The films included in “Launchpad” range from 14 to 20 minutes.

American Eid, from Aqsa Altaf, tells of a Pakistani family that has recently moved to the US. It is seen through the eyes of the two daughters, one who is trying to fit in, the other seeking to hold on to the traditions that are meaningful to her (like getting out of school for the Eid holiday). This was my favorite of the strong field.

Dinner Is Served, from Hao Zheng, is the story of a Chinese student at a ritzy school who desires to be the dining hall maître d’. He sees it as being recognized for his abilities. But it may not be how others see it.

Growing Fangs, from Ann Marie Pace, is the story of a Mexican-American teen from a mixed marriage—human and vampire. She doesn’t fit in with her human friends and is afraid to let the monsters at her new school know the truth about her parentage. This is the film with the best humor and most imaginative concept.

The Last of the Chupacabras, from Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, is another light-hearted (but not without meaning) story. The last tamales cart vendor in LA discovers a Chupacabra in her yard after an earthquake. It’s not as terrible as legend suggests.

Let’s Be Tigers, from Stefanie Abel Horowitz, is the story of a babysitter who is trying to cover up the grief over the death of her mother. Of course, sometimes it can sneak up on you.

The Little Prince(ss), from Moxie Peng, tells of two Chinese school kids who become friends, but the father of one of the boys is taken aback by his son’s friend’s affinity for dolls, pink, and ballet.

All of these films allow us to see people discovering themselves. Most of them also deal with the tensions of culture and tradition—of holding true to one’s values while trying to fit into a world that may not have those same values. The discoveries that the characters make in these stories show that we can often affirm both worlds if we are willing to be honest with ourselves.

I will confess that I often look at Disney as a behemoth—a cinematic/business empire that takes what it wants and only cares for the bottom line. That allows them to make lots of movies we all love. But it also sometimes makes them seem like they like to throw their weight around. But “Launchpad” certainly does not fit that image. These shorts are a nice gift that Disney has given us. It not only gives us a chance to watch some shorts, it also is giving wonderful opportunities to filmmakers who have a hard time finding ways to tell their stories.

Photos courtesy of Disney

A Look at the Oscar® Nominated Live Action Shorts

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When it is time to award the best in films each year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences include three categories of short films in their Oscar ® presentations. Most people don’t get to see many shorts. They play at festivals, and occasionally in front of a feature film. But short films are an art form worth attention. Many (probably most) feature filmmakers started out making short films. To tell a story in such a brief format takes skill. All the Oscar-nominated short films will be playing in theaters and on virtual cinema in special programs.

Let’s take a look at the Oscar ® nominated live action shorts.

Feeling Through (19 minutes, directed by Doug Roland). Tereek, a homeless teen helps Walter, a blind-deaf man (played by a deaf-blind actor), find his bus to get home. He learns to see the man as more than a problem, and also gets perspective on his own trials.  This is a very moving story. In just a few minutes of screen time, we see tremendous growth in Tereek’s character. For him this is truly a life changing experience.

The Letter Room (33 minutes, directed by Elvira Lind). When a sensitive prison guard gets transferred to the mail room, his job is to read all the incoming and outgoing mail. He is enthralled with the very personal letters sent to a death row inmate. But perhaps the reality is less than he imagines. Nice performance from Oscar Isaac as a man who strives to be kind, even in an unkind environment.

The Present (25 minutes, directed by Farah Nabulsi). This Palestinian film is the story of a man who sets off with his daughter to go into town to buy an anniversary gift for his wife. The way is complicated by checkpoints, hostile Israeli soldiers, and segregated highways. It becomes a trial by humiliation. Can the man get the gift home and still maintain his stature in the eyes of his daughter? This look at life within the occupied Palestinian territories shows some of the injustice that people must face, with no real rights or power. The Present is currently streaming on Netflix.

Two Distant Strangers (29 minutes, directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe). When a man wakes up in his girlfriend’s apartment, he sets off home to take care of his dog. But when he runs into trouble with a racist policeman, it ends tragically. Then he wakes up again…. This is something of a Black Lives Matter version of Groundhog Day. There are lots of different scenarios, but it always ends in the police killing of a black man.

White Eye (20 minutes, directed by Tomer Shushan). In Israel, a man finds his bike stolen weeks ago. It now belongs to a Somalian immigrant who bought it at bus station. When the police get involved it becomes far more complicated than the man wanted. The film moves from being about what rights a person might have to what is the right thing to do in a difficult setting.

My favorites among these are Feeling Through,because it brings hope out of darkness in a touchingly human way; and Two Distant Strangers, for the way it uses the time loop trope to emphasize the way the killing of black people seems be something we wake up to anew each day.

To see where you can see these shorts, go to https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/

Reporting from Slamdance – I’ll admit there’s some weird stuff here.

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Festivals often have films that are outside my normal comfort zone. I may just skip over those sections with experimental styles of filmmaking. Slamdance has some groups of films that fit this category, including sections of Experimental Shorts, DIG (Digital, Interactive, and Gaming), and The Department of Anarchy. I decided to dip my toe into these sections to look for a few that might interest me.

“The Department of Anarchy”

Life. (4 seconds directed by Mohammad Mohammadian). Yes, that’s right, a four second film. How much depth can there be in that short a period? Well, you’re spending more time reading this review than the length of the film. Obviously, the theme is the brevity of life. And it makes that point clearly.

Bare Bones.  (10 minutes, directed by Meryem Lahlou). This is a computer animated film with voice over that reflects on the pendulum of life and death. It  creates a surreal world that leads us to nihilistic existential contemplation.

ASMR for White Liberals.(3 minutes, directed by John Connor Hammond). A black man softly says the kinds of things that will calm white liberals. As a white liberal myself, I understand that these are thing I think I would want to hear, but there is moral judgement to be found in that.

 Everything You Need to Know about Pierogi. (4 minutes, directed by John Phillips). What starts off as a rather boring celebration of the Polish dumpling suddenly takes a very strange turn into fulfilling life’s purpose.

Peter the Penguin. (10 minutes, directed by Andrew Rutter). Nigel is about to meet his girlfriend’s daughter for the first time. The stuffed toy he’s brought really isn’t good enough. When they get to the house, the child is in a panic because her stuffed penguin has been hurt. The ensuing drama takes a very dark turn for Nigel.

“DIG: Digital, Interactive & Gaming”

The Long Fall. (4 minutes, directed by Cade Mirabitur). Computer animation using a gaming engine. The interior of a house, with manikin-esque people. The house falls and tumbles into a bottomless pit.

24,483 Dreams of Death. (15 minutes, directed by Chris Peters). This project uses two separate Artificial Intelligences. The first AI watched a movie several times and then creates the visual world it perceives. Over this visual are the words of another AI that had been trained with millions of lines of poetry that creates its idea of poetry. The result is an eerie visual poetry.

To Die in the Valley I Love. (12 minutes, directed by Koryn Wicks). This film calls itself “a movement meditation on horror movies”. With a computer-generated text about horror films, a dancer responds to the text.

“Experimental Shorts”

Morning Sickness in the USA. (3 minutes, directed by Christine Brache). The filmmaker shares her grandmother’s story of coming to the US from Puerto Rico and being placed in a mental hospital when she went to a doctor for inexplicable nausea. The assumptions based on ethnicity point to problems in the system.

Rumi and His Roses (6 minutes, directed by Navid Sinaki). A gay Iranian man tells the story of the smuggling of love poems in bootleg DVD menus in his first relationship.

The Gospel According to Them. (11 minutes, directed by Bury Leod). A collection of various clips focusing of faith, but also black British experience. The clips are all in small inserts on the screen which created a distance that, for me, was off-putting.

Photos courtesy of Slamdance Film Festival

Welcome to the 2021 Slamdance Film Festival

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Like festivals all around the world over this last year, Slamdance Film Festival is going digital. Over 100 films will be available to watch from February 12-25. Slamdance, as the name implies, skews a bit to the edgier side of independent films. But that doesn’t mean it’s all weird, all the time. There are some very interesting films that will be part of the online festival.

Naturally there are feature films, both narrative and documentary, with a wide range of subject matter. There is also a load of short films. These include the traditional shorts sections of live action narrative, animated, and documentary shorts. But Slamdance also always has some sections that are a bit more out there. This year, that includes, “The Department of Anarchy”, “Experimental Shorts” and “DIG: Digital, Interactive, and Gaming”. Slamdance is also featuring a special section of shorts called “Unstoppable” that deals with people with disabilities. There will also be panel discussions about filmmaking and the business along the way.

I plan on reporting on many of the features, some in single film review, some in small groups of films, throughout the week. I’ll also be spending some time with the shorts and bringing reports on many of them.

Because this is a virtual festival, it means that you, too, can be part of the festival. Festival passes are available at the festival website for an amazingly low price of $10. That gets you access to the wide range of films without standing in line or filling a crowded screening room. (Even though many of us are yearning to return to theaters for films, we can’t just yet.)

Nimic – Short and Deep

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We may not expect an Oscar nominated writer/directorto bring us a short film. But then we don’t often know what to expect from Yorgos Lanthimos (three nominations between The Lobster and The Favourite). Nimic is twelve minutes worth of the kind of surreal weirdness that makes Lanthimos’s films attractive to some (including me) and off-putting for others.

Matt Dillon plays a cellist and father. One day coming home on the subway, he asks a young woman (Daphne Patakia) for the time. A strange connection takes place which will affect their lives in a very bizarre way. The film could be categorized as either dark comedy or light horror.

Lanthimos often seems to deal with people who are losing their sense of identity and their place in the world. (Or maybe it’s really about finding a new place in the world.)  In that way, this is very much in line with The Lobster and The Favourite. The surrealism of Lanthimos’s films leads us to some very existential questions of what it means to be who we think we are and who we are if we are not that person. Of course, such depths often surprise us in short films. Just as we settle in for a brief entertainment, we have to ask ourselves what it all means.

Photos courtesy of Mubi.

Nimic can be seen on the streaming service Mubi.

Oscar-Nominated Live Action Shorts

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Short films are important enough for the Academy to award three Oscars to shorts each year: Best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Short Documentary. Most people haven’t had a chance to view these films, which may be harbingers of tomorrow’s filmmakers. But each year, shortly before the Academy Awards are presented, programs made up of these short films play in select theatres around the country. You can find where they will play near you at https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/theatrical-release/ . The films will also be available on VOD on Feb. 4. Here’s the line up for the Live Action Shorts.

A Sister (Une Soeur) (16 minutes) from Belgium, directed by Delphine Girard. As a man and woman travel in a car at night, the woman calls her sister who is taking care of her child. She’s late and wants to make arrangements. But when we see the other side of this call, we discover the real drama that is playing out. This might be the most important call she has ever made. Makes for a very good thriller in the few minutes of this film.

Brotherhood (25 minutes) from Canada, Tunisia, Qatar, and Sweden, directed by Meryam Joobeur. Mohamed and his two sons are shepherds in rural Tunisia. When his estranged oldest son, Malik, returns, everyone seems pleased he’s home, except Mohamed. Malik left the family to fight with ISIS in Syria. Now he’s back, with a mysterious wife in tow. She stays covered in her burqa at all times—even within the family, who are strangers to her. Mohamed has little patience for all of this. It is only after he has acted to get rid of Malik that he learns the real story of Malik and his wife. This is a story that focuses on judgmentalism, especially when it gets in the way of familial love.

Nefta Football League (17 minutes) from France and Tunisia, directed by Yves Piat. Two brothers come across a donkey in the desert. It is wearing headphones and carrying many bags of a white powder. The older brother thinks they have found a goldmine. They younger thinks it’s just laundry detergent. When they get to town, the older brother looks to cash in. But the younger has other ideas for using this windfall.

Saria (22 minutes) from the US, directed by Bryan Buckley. Two orphaned girls are subjected to an unpleasant life at the Virgen de La Asuncion Safe House orphanage in Guatemala. They plan an escape with many others. But they are found and brought back. If that isn’t tragedy enough, it gets worse. The story is based on the true story of a fire that killed 41 teenage girls.

The Neighbors’ Window (20 minutes) from the US, directed by Marshall Curry. A couple with two (then three) children are pretty much tired out. They don’t have time or energy at the end of the day. One evening, they see their young neighbors across the way having some very interesting sex. Since the windows are always uncovered, they become a constant source of interest for this couple. As the months pass, they see parties, more sex, and then things change a bit. Eventually they will see some very intimate and touching parts of their lives. They will also discover that perhaps they have added something to the lives of their neighbors as well.

The Live Action Shorts are usually my favorite of the shorts categories because they do such a great job of showing some of the issues we all must deal with in life. This year’s nominees, while all very good, don’t quite carry the power that I’ve appreciated in other years. That said, my top pick for Life Action Shorts is The Neighbors’ Wife. What starts out as a story about a slightly perverted voyeurism grows into a touching connection between people.

Photos courtesy of Shorts.TV

Oscar-Nominated Live Action Shorts

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When it is time to award the best in films each year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences include three categories of short films in their Oscar presentations. Most people don’t get to see many shorts. They play at festivals, and occasionally in front of a feature film. But short films are an art form worth attention. Many (probably most) feature filmmakers started out making short film. To tell a story in such a brief format takes skill. All the Oscar-nominated short films will be playing in theaters in special programs. To see where the films will be playing near you, go to https://shorts.tv/theoscarshorts/theatrical-release/

Here is a look at the five Oscar-nominated live action short films.

Detainment (Ireland 30 minutes, directed by Vincent Lambe). The film is reenactments based on the transcript of interviews of two ten year-old boys who in 1993 abducted a toddler from a shopping mall and killed him. The two boys have different personalities that come out in the questioning, one is fearful, the other defiant and aggressive. The two young actors (Ely Solan and Leon Hughes) turn in excellent performances as two boys who have gotten into trouble they never dreamed of.

My Reaction: This is a chilling story. The James Bulger case was world famous, in part because the two boys were tried as adults. It is hard to fathom what would lead two children to such an evil act. There is no psychologizing included. We just slowly get some of the facts. Just as the boys parents are overwhelmed as the truth begins to come out, so too are we the viewers.

Fauve (Canada, 17 minutes, directed by Jeremy Comte). Another film with two ten year-old boys. As they play in fields and in an abandoned plant and quarry, the two of them go back and forth trying to show dominance in their relationship. They eventually get into trouble—trouble that they cannot get out of on their own, but there is no one to help.

My reaction: As you see the tragedy coming, it’s hard to continue watching, but we keep hoping that there will be some help that will arrive in time.

Madre (Spain, 18 minutes, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen). A mother is in her apartment when she gets a call from her six year-old son who is on a trip to the beach with his father. The father has gone off and has not come back. The boy is unsure even what country he is in. Slowly panic begins to fill the mother as she tries to find a way to get help to her son.

Ry reaction: The film does well to build the sense of fear and helplessness. We identify with the mother’s predicament and powerlessness. A very interesting premise that is well executed.

Marguerite (Canada, 17 minutes, directed by Marianne Farley). The story of an aging woman and the visiting caregiver. After learning that the caregiver is in a same-sex relationship, the woman remembers back to a time in her past when she was in love, but never admitted it. When she confesses to the caregiver, the caregiver’s response is a heartwarming act of compassion and love.

My reaction: There is a great sweetness to this film (as opposed to the darkness and intensity that dominates the other nominees). The tenderness, kindness, and love of the caregiver makes this my favorite of these shortlisted films.

Skin (USA, 20 minutes, directed by Guy Nattiv) is a story of racism, bigotry, violence, and revenge. When a white family goes to a rural grocery store, a black man smiles at the white child and plays with an action figure. The father is outraged and follows the black man to the parking lot and beats him. But later, a group of black men take their revenge in a unique way that sets the stage for tragedy.

My reaction: The whites in the film are stereotypical rednecks. They relish their guns and their hatred. I know that such people are real, but such blatant racism and bigotry are just too easy a target. The curse of racism in our society is far more subtle and systemic. The revenge aspect of the film also is far from redemptive. On the contrary, it become as large of an evil as the original act.

Oscar Watch – Best Live Action Short

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Each year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes the best of filmmaking with the Academy Awards, aka the Oscars. Among the films honored each year are three categories of short films. These are films that few people get to see (unless you go to festivals), but these films are just as worthy of recognition as the big-name films that everyone gets to see. Because they are short (maximum running time of forty minutes including credits), these films tell their stories with conciseness and clarity. Each year when I watch the films nominated for Oscar in short film categories I wish that distributors would package a short with each feature film. (Disney/Pixar does this very well.)

Five films have been nominated for Best Live Action Short.  It is an eclectic set of films including a comedy, some “ripped-from-the-headlines” type stories, and a children’s advocacy piece. Four of the films are based or inspired by true events. Two are from the US, with others coming from Australia, the UK, and a German/Kenyan project.

DeKalb Elementary (21 minutes) from Reed Van Dyk is inspired by a 911 call placed from a school office when a man shows up with a gun. The film is essentially a two-character play between the school receptionist (Tarra Riggs) who is being held hostage by a gunman (Bo Mitchell) who seems intent on committing suicide-by-cop. The receptionist serves as the mediator between the gunman and the police over the telephone and in the process creates an opportunity for things to have a more positive outcome than we might expect. The specter of gunmen in schools is all too familiar to Americans. This short is not about finding an answer to the problem, but rather it shows us a human side of those involved that allows for hope.

In 1955, in one of the many heinous acts of racism in American history, fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was lynched for whistling at a white woman. Kevin Wilson, Jr.’s My Nephew Emmett (20 minutes) tells that story from the perspective of his uncle Mose Wright (L. B. Williams), a Mississippi preacher who sought to protect his nephew. We may feel that we have made progress from those days (and we have in many ways), but when we must still assert that Black Lives Matter and witness the reemergence of alt-right politics, this film serves as a reminder that we must continue to seek justice and reconciliation.

Derin Seale’s The Eleven O’Clock (13 minutes) has a Monty Python-esque feel to it. In a psychiatrist’s office two men (Josh Larson and Damon Herriman) have a therapy session. One is the actual psychiatrist, the other his new patient who has delusions that he is a therapist treating a man who believes he is a psychiatrist. But which is which? The film rests on witty dialogue as each man asserts his sanity and the other’s madness. It really is quite fun.

Dealing with disabilities is the focus of Chris Overton’s The Silent Child (20 minutes). Four-year-old Libby (Maisie Sly) is profoundly deaf, but her busy middle-class family only wants her to be normal. When a caring social worker introduces her to signing, Libby’s world opens up. But will her family open to her as well? Title cards at the end of the film share percentages of deaf children who are mainstreamed in schools without signing, effectively limiting their potential.

Watu Wote: All of Us (23 minutes) is a German/Kenyan film by Katja Benrath. The area between Kenya and Somalis has been troubled for many years by Al-Shabaab, an extremist, terrorist organization. Distrust in the area between Christians and Muslims runs deep. The film portrays an event from December 2015 when an Al-Shabaab group stopped a bus in a remote area and demanded that the Muslims on board identify the Christians so they could be killed. The Muslims however rejected the demands, even arguing the ways that this was not the way of Islam. Some of them even put their lives on the line to protect the Christians. Confronting evil is not as simple as standing up and saying no. But then again, sometimes it is.

My favorite among these nominees is Watu Wote, for the power of the storytelling and the message it shares that peace can sometimes happen between people even in the midst of terrible evil. My runner up, for sheer enjoyment, is The Eleven O’Clock.

The Oscar Nominated Shorts will be playing in select theaters worldwide beginning February 9.

Photos courtesy of Shorts.tv

2017 Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts

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All the films nominated for Best Live Action Short this year come from Europe. Most deal with the human search for joy, but then some deal with some of the darker sides of life. All tell their stories with skill and brevity. In alphabetical order they are:

Enemies Within (Ennimis Intérieurs) (France, 28 minutes, directed by Sélim Azzazi) In the aftermath of French colonialism, an Algerian-born man is being questioned at a police station about his desire to become a French citizen. He mentions that when he was born Algeria was a part of France, so he has always thought of himself as French. As the questioning evolves, he is pressed about people he has associated with. It is implied that he is protecting terrorists. Even though it is set in the 1990s, this has a very contemporary theme—one that fits American culture just as much as French.

La Femme et le TGV (Switzerland, 30 minutes, directed by Timo von Gunten) Every day Elise gets up in time to wave at the passing high speed train that rumbles by her house. She has done this for years. One day she finds in her yard a letter from the engineer, telling her what joy he gets from her waves each day. A correspondence ensues—until the route is cancelled. For Elise this brings a belief in something more than just the routine and stagnation of life that has evolved around her.

Silent Nights (Denmark, 30 minutes, directed by Aske Bang) Kwame, an immigrant from Ghana, struggles to get by on the streets in Denmark. When he meets Inger, a volunteer at the Salvation Army shelter, they begin a path that leads to love. But Kwame keeps important secrets from Inger. There are issues of racism in the film, but more than that, it deals with what love calls us to do—possibly even self-sacrificing.

Sing (Mindenki) (Hungary, 25 minutes, directed by Kristof Deák) Zsofi is the new girl in school, but quickly becomes friends with the popular Lisa. When Zsofi joins the choir which has a reputation for winning competitions, the teacher tells Zsofi to lip sync the songs—she just isn’t good enough. With a big competition coming up, Lisa learns of the teacher’s falsehood. How will the others in the choir (some of whom also only lip sync) deal with this?

Timecode (Spain, 15 minutes, directed by Juanjo Giménez Peña) Luna works as a parking lot security guard, mostly watch security cameras. One day, she comes across footage of her co-worker Diego dancing through the garage. Luna and Diego begin leaving little video presents for each other. It has a bit of a So You Think You Can Dance vibe to it.

All of these films touch me at some level. My favorite was Sing. It reflects the joy that can be found in singing, even when our voices are not good enough. (It should be noted that the Psalmist instructs us to make a joyful noise, not necessarily beautiful music.) It also serves as a parable about the forces of the world that would have us set aside the things that make us happy because it doesn’t fit another agenda. This is a film for everyone who has been told they aren’t good enough—but still want to follow their joy.

Photos courtesy of Shorts HD