The documentary chooses nonagenarian Susan as its protagonist. After a life lived long and well, Susan now shares her reflections on existence in a heartfelt manner. The candid conversation, though brief, is defined by a rare meaningfulness that suffuses a much-needed sense of hope in a world where otherwise stories of heartbreaking realities abound. 
Despite having lived decade after decade where an overwhelming conflict or war always consumed at least some part of the world, Susan’s steadfast dream for a realm that has managed to overcome the many divisive forces of hate and cruelty comes across with impact and clarity. 
The screenplay ties up the articulate candor of its protagonist with mood shots to further drive the message home. The end result, consequently, becomes a purposeful whole that is not only defined by the uplifting intelligence as well as a reflection on life by its protagonist but also by the technical know-how and storytelling skills of the entire team behind it.

Echoes of Tomorrow | Spotlight

The film is a lovely, heartwarming ode to creativity, alongside being a reminder that no matter how still and dull things might seem sometimes, there is always a little bit more color and inspiration to be found in an unexpected place. The protagonist is in the middle of a room filled with blank and scribbled pages, the clutter around him a representation of his scattered thoughts. He is unable to move ahead in his creative pursuits. However, soon he stumbles across an object, a basketball, in a forgotten corner of the room that echoes the film’s title ‘Create!’. In a similar fashion, creativity effuses forward from the crevices of his mind, and the narrative comes full circle. The visual treatment, with its effects and animation exhibiting finesse and skill, becomes a true treat to interact with as a viewer. All of it together ties the end result as a whole, marked by hope, and a fun, engaging, and expert visual progression.

Create! | Spotlight

The film opens with a sense of overwhelming darkness and despondency. However the tone is swiftly changed when the protagonist stumbles across a camera, and a journey away from this darkness, and towards indomitable light, begins. Words are interviewed with poetic visuals, the most notable strength of the film, to conjure a world defined by hope and the desire to find oneself again. 
The revelation of strength and courage, especially when all is lost, remains a core idea that the narrative engages with. A movement away from an endless void, through the shadows, and back to a space where the protagonist can indeed be the keeper of the light herself, is mapped against beautiful visuals. The grammar and aesthetic approach of the film present expert control of light and shadows, which are then deftly tied with the voiceover. 
The underlying message of finding hope even amidst the most oppressive pain, failure, and falls remains loud and clear, painted for the viewer with earnestness and skilled narratorial construction.

The Light Keeper | Spotlight

The scene is set for a porn film to be shot. The actors, the seasoned Luna and the rookie Benjamin, are all ready too. With the frame fixed and the camera in place, only one thing stands in the way of the work from going ahead - the director of this already-doomed-work project. He is abusive, harasses the young Benjamin till no end, and ensures, despite everyone's best efforts, and gradually increasing impatience, the shoot halts more than it progresses. 

A single exchange that encapsulates the narrative most wonderfully is one that unfolds between Benjamin and Luna, as the two get candid over some junk food soon after. 
The film not only employs a fixed space with efficiency and care, alongside notable performances and chemistry but also offers a story that is heartfelt and sincere in its simplicity and vulnerability. It captures one encounter and portrays it with authenticity, taking a chewable bite and, in the process, doing full justice to the end result.

Benny Boy | Spotlight

Ali is faced with the indomitable task of tying loose ends after the death of a family member, his sister, Mahra. The subsequent story that comes into existence is a moody thriller about societal pressures, and more importantly, a fractured psyche that can follow in the wake of all of these pressures. 
Ali is left powerless in the face of what is expected of him, and how he must navigate his family’s position which is now incontrovertibly tied to his sister’s suicide. The crushing fear of the truth coming out is palpable in the portrayal of the protagonist, alongside an equally complementary performance that brings him to life. 

If on the one hand, there is concealment of the true causes of Mahra's death, in a bid to protect the family’s reputation and sense of honor, on the other hand, is a grieving brother with no time and space for his pain to be dealt with. The chasm between what one wants to do and what is expected of them is allowed a notable portrayal in the film. The narrative handles the intensity and the direness of the circumstance that Ali battles with earnestness, alongside deliberate stylistic choices of visuals and background score, to further embellish the storytelling, making the film an engaging watch.

The Apartment | Spotlight

The film is an amusing exchange between two men located on opposite ends of a spectrum, the spectrum of love for pickleball. The conversation is between a therapist and a client, a devout lover of the sport, and a passionate hater, respectively.
It develops much like a match, from one opponent to another, all along defined by the film’s consistent lightheartedness. The narrative does not bog itself down with forced layers or complexities. The consequent straightforward approach to the story and screenplay works in the film’s favor, supported with ease by the back-and-forth banter of the two actors. 
Perhaps there could be more episodic snippets giving glimpses into their lives in the future, exploring more of this buddy-film-esque chemistry.

Picklelove | Spotlight

The short film attempts a lot of things and succeeds at all of them most gloriously. The narrative is an engagement with the transience and impermanence of things in so many ways. It foregrounds the inexorable passage of time felt in every moment of it, further emphasised by the voice of the narrator, overflowing with a gravity that will set the pace just right for the plot to develop. The film is also a visual feat achieved most effortlessly by the seamless weaving together of a sprinkling of live action visuals with stunning animation. Primarily using the location of a beach the protagonist grew up on, the sand in itself becomes a character, the medium of narration, taking the viewer by the hand on her journey. There is still so much more the film engages with - female friendships, the forever forward moving path of life from childhood to adulthood, an underlying strain of homosexuality, the relationship between the past, and the present and the unreliability of memory. Guaxuma does a stellar job of tying it all together, without making it look like a laborious task, and before the viewer can realise it, they have covered a huge distance within while seemingly partaking in the experiences of the protagonist.

Guaxuma | Short Film of the Day

The short film is the most beautiful and brilliantly executed engagement with the notions of memory, time, nostalgia and the familial space. As the protagonist shares his technique of packing, one passed on to him by his father, he takes the viewer deeper into a moving, poignant narrative, marked by the same minimalism as that of its parent text by Ron Koertge. Before you even realise where you have located yourself, the story has already managed to engage and involve you beyond the point of no return. The visuals use stop-motion animation in a skilled and sophisticated way, marking transitions in the narration of the protagonist's past experiences by vividly surreal images. The film ends with a beautiful metaphor allowing the negative space to be a comment on the gaps in communication that may have potentially been part of the protagonist's relationship with his father, as well as being a potent marker of what truly came to define their equation - the art and technique of packing.

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