It's incredibly difficult to pin down what this film truly means to a viewer. It is ethereal and visceral at the same time. It is extremely complex, nuanced, evasive, and yet, at its core, has a simple premise. While the subject it deals with is endlessly layered, its voice and tone is fairly straightforward. But wait, what genre does it belong to? Is it dramatic, surreal, violent in its execution of its story? Is it all or none of it? As you struggle with the questions and their answers, it is indeed in this compulsion you feel to engage with it that the success of the film lies. The body of the narrative is the poem of the same name by Olivia Gatwood. Though both Dani Pearce and Gatwood belong to different parts of the world, having first participated in the conversation around this short film virtually, Backpedal further goes on to exhibit the transcendence of art, the universality of an experience when it's treated with absolute honesty and sincerity. The story becomes a commentary on gender, the desperate need of adolescents to fit in with their peers, in general, and of young women trying to fit in with their male counterparts in particular. Violent images of a murder are invoked, as are those of grief, tragedy and loss. It's astonishing how much the film manages to convey in its short length. Further, it's unequivocally loud and clear in its message, one expressed in an experimental manner, ensuring that the story and its images will continue to haunt you, making you return to it over and over again after your first interaction with the world conjured by Backpedal.

Backpedal | Short Film of the Day

‘Gomorrah’ invokes the Biblical city of sin in its title which serves as a fitting metaphor for the reality unfolding before us. We are presented with a space of debauchery and excesses of all kinds where everyone, but more so the protagonist, is eternally damned and tied to this dismal fate. 

The first-person narrative paints for the viewer a world of substance abuse where all that matters is the next hit, and its potency to drown everything else that once was right until that moment. As the Virgil-esque protagonist, Francis Dykes, leads the viewer into this particular Hell, he is also allowed a moment of intimacy and affection, fleeting as it might be amidst the despair. 

Gorgeous cinematography, lovely background score, and top-drawer performances put together the film for the viewer. The writing invokes a very brutal, visceral realm located inside a metaphorical heap of rubbish, to borrow an analogy from Francis’ monologue. It does an adept job of portraying the desire to disappear, the self-hate, dread of existence, alongside an unabashed, fierce look into the world of addiction.

Gomorrah | Short Film of the Day

‘Women Lockdown’ is an intensely personal conversation about dreams, hopes, passions, but also things that weigh you down, stand in the way of everything you want or desire. 
The tonality and approach remains beautifully intimate throughout as the narrative introduces us to five women. The authenticity with which their experiences are brought to life allows the film a universality that works most wonderfully in its favor. 

The visuals are experimental, suffused with symbolism and metaphors, coupled with a background score that further amplifies the sentiment the narrative intends to convey. The emotion thus brought to life is honest and poignant, as the conversation, and the ensuing visuals, continue to flow with ease and seamlessness.

Women Lockdown | Short Film of the Day

Stunning visuals of the limitless outdoors - snowclad mountain peaks in all their glory, oceans with water stretching out as far as the eye can see, and cloudy skies that remain forever moving - bring to life this beautiful narrative about change being the only constant. 

The images of nature are interweaved with the fluidity of the human body, suggesting internal struggles and the inability of things to stay still. The choreographed visuals are brief but seamless and expert, allowing the two components, nature and humans, to come together as a composite whole. The end result is crafted with care, is meaningful in its beauty, and perhaps can be explored as a longer project in the future.

Life is Movement | Short Film of the Day

'Silence 1b' is a poignant romance with grief, loss and the trauma that gets left behind in its wake. The real triumph of the film lies in the manner in which it approaches its thematic concern, weaving together visual and audio metaphors and symbols. 

Concisely put, it is the story of a woman mourning the loss of her partner, one she was yet to know enough to be able to put their relationship in a normative structure or category. However, the sharpness of grief knows no such rules and spares none in its forever advancing motion. The inability to reconcile the self with the ensuing pain, especially in the absence of a vocabulary to articulate it, becomes the emotional guiding force of the plot. 

All of this is explored and condensed within a few minutes of the narrative, maintaining brevity throughout. The experimental treatment remains a notable strength of the film, while staying consistently faithful to the overall style and aesthetic, making the viewer feel the true force of the emotions being invoked before them.

Silence 1b | Short Film of the Day

‘Rest’ is an experimental narrative that operates entirely within the realm of symbolism and metaphors. It presents to us a protagonist, dressed formally in the garb of a professional, perhaps even a perfect specimen of capitalism whose life is deeply embedded in profits, numbers and everything else the said existence entails. However, his surroundings are in complete contrast with his attire. He is not located within an office, but instead amidst an endless, vast expanse of barrenness, a desert that is loud and clear in the isolation it ushers in. 

The man is in pursuit of something, his redemption, the meaning of his existence, his raison d'être, or only some respite and rest, as the title echoes, from a burdensome life. The eventual culmination of this journey of endless, disappointing empty suitcases eventually leads him to a physical reality which is the very antithesis of the arid, infertile space before us. 
As the narrative comes full circle, the film succeeds in presenting its intended symbolism to you, simply by way of seamless visuals, devoid completely of any dialogue.

Rest | Short Film of the Day

The protagonist of ‘Endless Shades’ is a twenty-three-year-old woman who battles several obstacles when it comes to her mental health. The immense pressure that is associated with physical appearance, and more so in the case of young women, can truly be crushing in this age of filtered selfies and meticulously curated realities. The short film draws attention to the same pressure for the protagonist who struggles to see the beauty in her appearance, despite checking off several boxes of conventional characteristics. However, there is a moment of acceptance and triumph to be had within the film as mirrors are shattered, and the broken shards are then used as a symbol of strength. The narrative and writing remain direct and straightforward, but it is the visuals and the subsequent flow of events that truly make the film succeed, along with offering a comment on an urgent contemporary issue.

Endless Shades | Short Film of the Day

The most notable aspect of ‘Trinity’ remains its animation. Marked by smoothness and skill, it allows the film to be a complete final result standing firmly on its feet. The narrative preoccupies itself with a single moment in time, the detonation of an atomic bomb. The visuals are gradual and organic in the world they bring to life, endeavoring to capture the moment of the explosion, and its aftermath. As the mushroom cloud rushes to the sky, the monochromatic realm of the film achieves completion. The edit remains tight and well-rounded throughout, the project brief and frugal, devoid of any actors or dialogue.

Trinity | Short Film of the Day

The film opens with a man speaking to an unspecified listener. Is he speaking with himself? Is the conversation only inside his head or is someone truly present in the room? The silence that accompanies this monologue pronounces a sense of isolation that is also evident in the austere surroundings of a nondescript room. 

The visual development is soon juxtaposed against the endless open space of the sea. The presence of a woman conjures a suggestion of memory, and therefore, presents another imagined listener to the protagonist. By invoking the said narrative, there is a sincere endeavor to talk about the isolation and loneliness of mental health struggles. 

Pain, grief, loss, longing, all of these are suggested within the film. Though the writing might run the danger of being a little young, the performance, visuals and edit all exhibit deep potential.

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