Crude Oil is the most bizarre splash of colours, amalgamation of sounds and tying together of visuals. It is glorious in its surrealism and the many hues and shades it employs to share its story with the viewer. Essentially, the film is about female friendships and the potential toxicity they can harbour. It is also about superpowers, useless or useful, but definitely made pointless when they are put to use to end FOMO or get extra olives on a pizza. The narrative does wonders with its edit and sound, ensuring that the viewer is in for a dreamy ride (disconcerting or not). It gives visual representation to memories, thoughts and anxiety, allowing you to be an intricate part of the protagonist's experience. The film also offers a portrayal of controlling relationships and the potency of realisations. As the protagonist completes a journey of struggling with ideas of self-worth, facing the nature of her relationships with seemingly the two most important people in her life and finally realising the horizon of possibilities before her in an angry outburst, the film proves to be a deeply involving interaction significantly unique and refreshing in its tone and approach.

Crude Oil | Short Film of the Day

Cramming is a beautiful exploration of a single moment that throws the friendship of two boys into complete chaos. Alex and Yan Bo are waiting for their final assessment to begin. While the former has clearly worked towards it, the latter is confirming the span of the syllabus meant for the test only a few minutes ahead of it. However, the result of the assessment reveals that one of them has copied all the answers from the other. While the viewer can easily ascertain who copied from whom, the teachers, and the disciplinary committee they have put together, are as far from this clarity as one can be. 

 On the face of it, the premise of the film is fairly direct and simple, but it is indeed the simplest stories that carry the deepest meaning and message. Cramming is a perfect example of the same. For the viewer, it brings to life a marked delineation of an instance that can serve as a memory that perhaps each of them would be able to relate to, one that comes carrying strong links to their own past of nervousness, anxieties and stress before an important examination. Additionally, the meticulous attention to detail that the film pays to this moment, allows it an authenticity that enables the story an undeniable connect with the audience.

 The film is subtle, but powerful and lucid in every intention that it communicates for the viewer, acquiring a freshness of tone, marked by the most effortless and unexpected moments of humor. It further brings to life a nuanced, but potent conversation on prejudice and bias which prestigious institutions exhibit in their treatment of pupils, a form of stereotyping and inert discrimination that stems, and unfortunately often trickles down, from the adults and the custodians of power themselves, as opposed to the children who are yet to be inducted entirely into society. As for our two lead characters, they exhibit vastly different personalities, expertly pronounced by the filmmaking approach of Dan Perlman, to infuse a deeply enriching layer to the story, ensuring that the viewer is as invested in the fate of their friendship as the characters themselves. 

 On the whole, the film raises important questions about interpersonal dynamics, the nature of friendship which can range from unbreakable to extremely fragile depending upon its handling, the manner in which bias operates in society, leading to the Othering of an unsuspecting, reticent child, how two people with contrasting personalities can be drawn to each other. In its engagement with these aspects, the narrative does not bog itself down with bombastic or didactic views. Among its other strengths, it is notably in this that the success of Cramming lies.

Cramming | Short Film of the Month

Some of the most powerful stories are those marked by the least ostentatious tools and devices, and Hudson Geese goes ahead to become the perfect example of the same proposition. Marked by a voiceover coupled with animation, the film adopts a calm pace and tone, using extreme ease to hoodwink the viewer of what is truly to come. The plot maps a goose's migration flight, while he moves back and forth in the narrative, introducing you to his life so far - from finding himself a loving companion, to the changing landscape of the world around him, his story encompasses it all. As fields are turned into plush golf courses, and islands become over-riden with the sharp angles of a haphazardly growing urban infrastructure, coupled with the bird's inability to understand the rapidly evolving world around him, a pertinent comment is invoked on humans' relationship with nature. Director and writer Bernardo Britto's voice and the conceptualisation of the story is singularly wry, all the while carrying within it a hard-hitting comment on society. The humour inherent to the narrative is deliberately misleading to make the eventual progression of events all the more jarring. On the face of it, the film is simply the story of a goose, however, a single engagement with it is more than sufficient to reveal the expert and sophisticated manner in which an important message is conveyed without making it didactic or overbearing.

Hudson Geese | Short Film of the Day

Romantic and marital relationships inarguably formed a crucial aspect of the many new realities that we struggled with during the 2020 pandemic. The short film explores one such equation while employing a tonality that uses both humor and seriousness in equal measure. The story, in the process, becomes the most notable aspect of the film, alongside the intention to explore the dynamic of a couple in all its subtleties and nuances. 
 
Nancy and Nikhil both battle their respective overwhelming work schedules, alongside raising two little girls. Consequently, the house is often left in a chaotic state of disarray. Much of the burden of sorting it falls on Nancy’s shoulders simply as a result of how gender roles often implicitly end up being defined in a marriage.
Despite his best intentions and dedicated efforts, Nikhil is unable to show up for Nancy in the way she requires. This, in turn, affects the romantic and sexual intimacy between the two. 
The storytelling does an earnest job of portraying how the two navigate the complexities that constitute this reality, while never allowing itself to be overburdened by emotional intensity, and instead, forever allowing humor to undercut the conjured tension. As for our two characters, they have a deeply meaningful realization awaiting them about the significance of small acts and a little more empathy toward one another.

Tiny Joy | Short Film of the Month

It is a fact universally acknowledged that if there is a shrieking kettle present in a scene, something is about to go awfully wrong. First the film establishes its premise for you - two friends, Norman and Kevin, trying to get their musical its stage debut, while the former struggles with financial troubles. However soon after the crux of the plot arrives, with the aforementioned kettle in tow, when Norman finds himself in the most unexpectedly morbid situation. 

While it holds the potential of making his money worries go away, it is a deeply disconcerting situation for the viewer. 

 The most notable aspect of the film lies in the same nonchalance it consistently imbues to all the varied circumstances, irrespective of their location on the emotional spectrum. This allows it an effervescence, a sense of lightness, that stays with you long after you're done watching the film. It is precisely for this reason that even though things might be spiralling into absolute chaos for the characters, there is still humour to be found in the narrative, albeit at their expense. 

At the end of it all there simply awaits the realization that despite several forces, unlikely developments, the musical in itself and the constant tussle of the undercurrents present within the film, the overarching thought that ties them all together is the friendship of Norman and Kevin, which perhaps then becomes the real protagonist of the narrative.

Teenage Jesus | Short Film of the Day

The scene is set for a Christmas party when the host realises that her mother has been missing for three hours. Additionally, the story of a recent engagement of a peer and clues about her whereabouts are explored parallelly. The film offers a convincing and sincere exploration of familial ties that consist of high-strung relatives, sibling tensions and identifying and locating familial dynamics of care and concern despite all conflict. It further does a notable job of providing moments of comedic drama despite the tragedy that might potentially be unfolding for the family. Additionally, it is refreshing to see an all-female space that makes no attempt to make its presence felt, but simply exists as an attempt to invoke a normative reality that an otherwise male-dominated screen space might unwittingly omit.

Kim Bush’s Abduction | Short Film of the Day

The short film is an exploration of dysfunctional familial relationships and the relentless struggle to not let them spirit away into apathy and indifference. The opening visual makes the viewer sit up in their seat and truly pay attention, and that is when the film seems to be doing its job well. The narrative is honest and sincere. However, despite it, it runs the danger of being predictable, and losing the tautness and uniqueness it had promised at the start. On the whole, the film is an endearing watch about a senile father, a broke brother and a high-strung sister trying to keep it all together. Would their's be a road trip that stays with you after you're done watching it?

Daytime Noon | Short Film of the Day

In a world where despair often seems to reign free and things appear bleak and despondent, stories about kindness and hope gain a renewed significance. The short film is an endearing and heartwarming example of one such story. An old woman, one day, hears her neighbor talking about a sum of money and how Krishna, a Hindu god worshipped by several Indians, has sent it to her in reply to a letter. Our protagonist thus gets determined to send out a letter of her own, also requesting the god for a small amount of money, to the utmost shock of her neighbor's son who she has roped in to write and post it. The film has an intimate tone throughout, along with a portrayal of the deep devotion towards divinity and the childlike wonder that people often develop in old age. There is further an efficient utilisation of limited resources to tell a simple, but compelling story with a sweet message at its core. Additionally, Dear Lord Krishna, evidently a sincere and dedicated attempt at storytelling, leaves the door open for more projects of the kind by the young filmmaker, Jhanvi Gadhvi.

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