Trigger warning: This video contains fast flashing images which might be unsuitable for photosensitive viewers. 

A lonely woman living a quiet life away from untapped potential, an empty mansion and an overbearing tragedy of the past - these three elements conjure the world of the film for you. The Duchess, a young woman who has dealt with traumatic loss right at the start of her life, one that casts an overwhelming shadow on her entire existence in the present, finds herself taking refuge in a world of fantasy and excesses. 

The film's true triumph lies in the path that it chooses to delineate its intentions. It opens with powerful, transitory and fast-paced images that set the mood and tone for what is to follow. We are presented with a suggestion of Ophelia, serpents, female figures running carefree in the woods, lying in a meadow of blossoms, and yet, a sense of darkness never truly leaves any of these images alone. 

As a colorful world is painted to step away from a monochromatic reality of grief, the film comes into being. Its voice remains unique and engaging, ensuring that this particular tale of a solitary Duchess stays with you long after you are done watching it.

The Duchess of Zion | Short Film of the Day

The film is an existential musing about the tenuous relationship between humans and the animal world, with intrinsic violence located at its heart. 

The interaction between the two unfolds after a tragic attack in which the protagonist, a young deer, loses her mother to a human bullet. As she now finds herself consumed by vengeful anger, a path of revenge, and what it could mean for someone who sees it as their sole escape out of heartache, loss, and grief, becomes a crucial driving force of the film. Additionally, there is something to be said about an endeavor that is founded on the desire for such violent retribution and the futility it might usher in. 

While portraying all of this, the narrative places the agency with the animals who present their perspective regarding the human world to the viewer. Anthromorphozing them offers a canvas of emotions, a story of loss and heartache, a first-hand account of the misery our young protagonist battles. The subsequent screenplay offers an interweaving of nature and outdoors, with human brutality, ensuring that the film's many components are able to share all of their intentions with clarity and emphasis.

Animals | Short Film of the Day

The film is a lovely experiment that ties a contemporary pop culture phenomenon, ASMR, with a night in twentieth century New York. As things unravel in quick succession, we are given a brief, but sufficient introduction to the life of Margaret and George Peabody. The narratorial development ensconces itself in an ASMR video where the reality is experienced from the point of view of a child who watches his dog sleep, while overhearing the conversation of the adults in the adjacent room. With a wise execution of its approach and idea, the film presents to us a balanced, cohesive whole, that is all along marked by the common thread of skilled storytelling. Despite the fixed visuals, there is not a moment of insipidity in the plot which, instead, keeps us at the edge of our seats throughout. The tone remains marked by lightheartedness and an omnipresence of humor, despite the dark developments of an explosion and fleeing from the law as the subject matter at hand. When all of this action is coupled with the calming visual of a peacefully sleeping dog, there is indeed little that can go wrong.

Dreamlands | Short Film of the Day

It’s hard to not be taken immediately by the world the film conjures. Located in the second half of twentieth-century USA, it is constituted by a woman, her television set, and a teddy bear called Rodney who, she insists, has some crucial information regarding the fate of humanity. The ensuing space becomes isolating as much as it is inviting. 

Sophia lives on her own, except for the mysterious Rodney and the harrowing news headlines on her TV, also reminiscent of contemporary news bulletins. When she is visited by her son-in-law, Frank, it is the conversation between the two that allows the viewer a longer glimpse into her world. 

As she insists that the fate of humanity is heading towards its doom, again, echoing modern-day fears pertaining to the human race, Frank’s difficulty in believing her propositions becomes very much at one with the viewer’s disbelief due to the premise they are based on. Things continue to develop swiftly, building tension with every passing moment, until the characters truly reach a point of no return. The final result of the film offers a single moment in time, a single conversation on a particular night. It would indeed be interesting to see it developed as a longer project.

The Atomic Dream | Short Film of the Day

Meg’s grandmother has recently passed away. As she stands before her massive hat collection, alongside her mother Jeanine, a sense of regret at not having known her better is expressed within the film. However, little does Meg realize that this lament is about to be addressed in the most unexpected manner. 
Fantasy nestles itself within the heart of the drama unfolding before us as Meg finds herself reliving her grandmother’s memories when she puts on a hat. The memories, along with fulfilling Meg’s wish, also serve the purpose of solving a key issue of the story - Jeanine's desperate search to find her mother’s necklace before her pugnacious sisters get to it and claim it as their own. 
Though the film does not fully utilize performance and production tools, it presents a sincere story with its heart in the right place. Alongside the tension infused within the film, there is further an engagement with bereavement and the grief it leaves behind, coupled with memory, longing, and wish fulfillment, adequately interacted with by employing the screenplay and writing.

Grandma's Hats | Short Film Nominee

Deliberately devoid of any dialogue, the film conjures a world of mystery within its silences. The setting is of a nondescript strip of nature where a woman stumbles across a red dress hanging from a tree. Immediately drawn to it, she soon finds herself experiencing a type of wilderness she could not have anticipated. 

A fantasy realm marked by a woman in a red attire coupled with the imagery of a wolf, the call of the wild, and the howls that draw her deeper; a mysterious magical wardrobe that leads her to a room - all of these visuals together constitute a space of fairy tales and fantasy, and the many secrets they harbor within. Shot primarily in the outdoors, the film further presents a warmth of visuals in its grammar while portraying its sole character with only nature as her companion. 

Additionally, the film is a result of the fulfillment of specific requirements, shot on a single Super 8 cartridge, further enhanced with only in-camera edits. All of these together allow it to be a technical triumph, even if leaving the door open for more similar engagements with the characters and spaces conjured for the viewer in the existing project.

La Robe Rouge | Short Film Nominee

The film presents a sincere coming-of-age moment within its brief length by way of its protagonist, a moth. Her struggle is one of finding her light, quite literally. As she spends her time drawing in her notebook, and trying to evade the pressure of finding this evasive light on a timeline, her peers are far ahead of her, already sharing their life updates of becoming conductors and controllers of the said light. 
As we go deeper into her battles, a narrative about the pursuit of one’s identity, and its acceptance in all its glorious rough edges, comes into existence. There is further the reminder to let things come to you in their own time, much like a crucial moment of acceptance and self-discovery that awaits our protagonist, irrespective of where she stands vis-a-vis her relationship with light. It is only when one takes off the external pressure of sticking to an imagined timeline that you find your light, metaphorical, but also quite literal, as for the characters of the film. 
In the process, the film presents a quirky world of moths and explores all of this, and some more about hopes, aspirations, and ideas of the self. The screenplay, though functioning within a structure of limited means, exhibits deep potential alongside equally competent visuals, and storytelling all of which remain soulful throughout.

All the While | Short Film Nominee

Peter has found himself in a terrible circumstance. Despite his best efforts, he is unable to find the inspiration to finish a creative endeavor he had set out to work on with much enthusiasm. 
Except for the title, the page before him remains blank, with no thoughts to even allow him the start that he so desperately seeks. He ropes in his best friend, Damian, as well, in this attempt to find inspiration. In the process, the narrative presents to us an interesting turn of events, ensuring that writing becomes the most noteworthy aspect of the endeavor. 

While it stands to gain from stability in its visuals, the storytelling exhibits potential, marked by a sense of hope and endearment. It is with the same perspective that ‘The Undeniable Will of a Sparrow’ should be approached and interacted with.

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