The short film, devoid of any extravagance, is a poignant, subtle and nuanced exploration of a distinct kind of unease; one of a first date between an immigrant Afghan woman and a second generation Afghan man, meeting each other for an arranged marriage. Though awkward and marked by long pauses at the start, the conversation soon begins to pick momentum between Samira and Harun. However, a seemingly obtrusive trilling of the latter's phone breaks them out of their shared moment, perhaps suggesting the stark differences of their lived realities despite the overlaps that exist. As longing for a homeland that has been left behind comes to predominate the narrative, there is also a reminder for the viewer that the two characters are struggling to come to terms with the situation they have found themselves in. The film wonderfully explores an interaction with a new culture, an act often fraught with tension and anxiety. A quiet celebration of identity, it is also a moving delineation of two strangers who, while grappling with alien territory, also try to find some form of comfort and solace in each other.

Our Kind of Love | Short Film of the Day

The title of the film, a portmanteau of Filipino and American, sets the horizon of expectation right at the start. The pursuit to not only belong and find a sense of belonging but also figure out ideas of self and identity, where you came from in order to understand where you are headed, become core thematic concerns of the film. The engagement with all of these remains lucid and earnest throughout. 
Our protagonist is a young boy who finds himself straddling two identities without being sure on which side he truly falls. If on the one hand, he wears Nikes and eats bacon, his connection to the culinary aspect of his Filipino heritage, as well as his strong desire to explore more of it, remains unshakeable, alongside uncertainty and doubts. The narrative shows how the two can indeed co-exist in a person. 
The film presents an engagement with all of this and some more in a unique, authentic voice that is controlled and understated in a notable manner. The final result exhibits more potential in terms of storytelling and screenplay than could be explored in this brief project. It should definitely be interacted with further in subsequent endeavors.

FilAm | Short Film of the Day

The film opens during a rushed morning for Maya, while her daughter Dia too heads out for her exam. On the table, a biology textbook lies on the sidelines as Dia sketches into her notebook. 

The tone of the film immediately establishes a mother-daughter equation marked by love and affection. Though this sentiment comes to define the entirety of the relationship unfolding before us, a crisis arises in the form of a crucial disagreement between the two characters. A debate on the larger idea of being an artist versus following a more pragmatic career path, like that of becoming a doctor, and especially what it means for a first-generation immigrant family, further positions itself within the plot. 

The characters bring to life notable performances that are defined by their easy chemistry. The entirety of the storytelling takes place within the confines of a single house, using it to the fullest to evoke a sense of intimacy. The viewer is eventually left with an uplifting story, alongside a reminder about the importance of honest and well-meaning communication.

Butterscotch | Short Film Nominee

The first visual that the viewer encounters in Soledad pronounces a sense of distance - two characters at the extreme ends of a frame divided by a wall, as they go about performing their respective tasks in adjacent rooms. Despite the brightness and the presence of daylight flooding the house, the ringing of the phone, the first real sound to break the oppressive silence, carries an elemental eeriness with it. As events begin to progress, the viewer begins to wonder if the woman, Soledad, wasn't supposed to answer the phone in the first place, was it someone who would have only revealed their identity to her husband, if yes indeed, why so? While the viewer might push these questions aside as paranoia by association with a seemingly lonely character who is too docile to question it, can our protagonist herself do that? Once left by herself and unable to make too much sense of the strange place that New York can often turn out to be, the young, pregnant bride has found herself in, Soledad calls a relative. The first proper exchange of dialogue now takes place, informing the viewer of several undercurrents whose presence had merely been implied so far. As the film finally concludes, there is a clear suggestion of a life of loneliness that awaits the protagonist, a seamstress, with only her sewing machine as a potential companion. Moments that could have been marked by intimacy, are instead warped by indifference and coolness, foiling the girl's expectations of any kind of warmth by the sole person she knows in New York after having left her former life behind in Dominican Republic. In its brief length, marked by few dialogues, the film manages to engage with all of this and more. It could have, however, benefited from a little more stability and balance in its visuals and frames.

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