The film opens with Seo-Won, the protagonist, sharing the day-to-day life of her children with another mother. Despite the superfluous mundaneness of the conversation, the lament of a home left behind in a different country becomes apparent. However, before the viewer can declare the film to be the exploration of immigrant identity, the narrative deliberately fractures itself, presenting us with fragments of memory, thoughts, arguments, and forgotten troubles that lie somewhere buried in a life lived long and hard. 

In the process, familial guilt, anger, resentment, loss, but more importantly, the people who get left behind, alongside those who leave, are conjured by the film. However, how much of the memory can truly be trusted? The film presents the question, while emphasizing how, sometimes, memory, no matter how unreliable a narrator, is the only entity that you have left, the only tenuous connection to an even more fragile notion of home. 

Through a competent screenplay and equally complementary performances, the narrative conjures all of this, and some more. It spans an entire spectrum of identity and belongingness, both ideas disrupted by disorienting thoughts, the causes of this disorientation eventually explained at the end. All of this is then very intimately tied with the protagonist's experience of not only having left behind a home but also the relentless efforts of building one in a foreign land.

Home | Spotlight

When approaching a story of a mother and daughter and their day-to-day life, the first assumption about their familial space can often be fraught with anxiety or conflict. The world of 'Lavender', on the other hand, is far from it. It offers a loving mother, Fern, who always found joy in the small things, and her concerned, and equally loving daughter, Violet. However, a life of domesticity that could have been marked by perfection otherwise, is afflicted by illness. 

A realm of soft, diffused, lavender-tinged visuals is conjured to portray Fern’s reality for us, a mind that now lives in a realm of memories and days long gone by. The narrative also does its bit to talk about dementia and the many ways in which it affects not only the person battling it, but also their caregivers. 

While Fern and Violet’s equation might not be defined by interpersonal conflict, it is indeed defined by tribulations and obstacles of its own. The engagement with the same becomes the driving force of the plot, eventually leaving the viewer with a quiet story of love, loss and the entropy that can sometimes define human existence.

Lavender | Short Film Nominee

Florence is celebrating her sixtieth birthday with her family, but despite the celebration, a dark pall is cast on the moment. Right underneath the cheer, a dark development simmers, waiting to make its presence felt at the slightest provocation. Soon the viewer is introduced to the protagonist’s battle with dementia, and the many devastating and irrevocable ways in which it has begun to affect every aspect of her life. 

Despite the love and support of her two concerned children, Sarah and Matt, along with an important work project up her sleeve, one about composing music for a reinterpretation of a Russian fairy tale, Florence now finds herself battling a disease, a disconcerting reality that simply cannot be overcome. 

Through the many conversations that the narrative holds with its protagonist, and the metaphors that are conjured in the process, the film does more than its bit to raise awareness about not only the illness, but also how it affects the loved ones of those afflicted with it. The writing is sensitive, the performances dedicated and earnest. Consequently, the end result becomes a whole that educates, but also, presents its story with sincerity.

The Cleverest Thief | Short Film Nominee

The short film, adopting a sombre, mellow tone, introduces us to the quiet life of an old couple. As they move from one daily activity to another - be it reading a book, cooking, playing the piano or watching television, all of them are weaved together to allow you a glimpse into their routine. However, despite the complete peace and normalcy of this life, every now and then, there is a moment of doubt, of unease that constantly functions to disturb the calm, to make the viewer ponder over the possibility of something being not quite right with this situation. The opening visual of the film is marked by the dark silhouette of a solitary figure, who sits despondent and crestfallen. The same emotions wriggle their way some more into the narrative. It is only at the conclusion that all of it ties together to reveal to the viewer the message that the narrative has carried all along. While old age in itself can become a deeply isolating experience, when it is plagued with afflictions like Alzheimer's and dementia, disorders and medical conditions that affect memory, it can aggravate the situation further, increasing the hardship of the sufferer manifold. Through its sincere handling of the life of a loving couple, the film makes the same point in a cohesive, comprehensive manner.

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