Starring Emily Mortimer, the short film is an endearing and heartwarming story of an immigrant woman, Hanka, living in North Dakota. As she attempts to open the doors for another family, fleeing the persecution in Cambodia, the film adopts a sophisticated manner to allow itself to unfold. The narrative is structured in the form of visuals that correspond to Hanka's voiceover of the letter she is writing an organisation, painting the most ideal picture of North Dakota for a potential refugee family. The story-telling of the film is its biggest strength, along with Mortimer's heartbreaking performance, reminding the viewer that even in times of utmost hate and cruelty, kindness will always reign supreme, that people's hearts indeed are like the North Dakota sky, endless and massive, and filled with a desire to protect each other. The visualisation of the letter gives the viewer the most succinct and complete glimpse into Hanka's life, a woman who herself has undergone the trauma of having left her own country in the face of hostility. Despite grappling with obstacles in her own familial and domestic life, there is a determination to at least allow one more refugee family the same opportunities which were allowed to her. It is this single-minded desire to help and be kind and reach out that elevates Hanka's character as well as her story immensely, allowing the film to be a much-needed reminder of the power and the importance of love in contemporary times.

One Cambodian Family Please for My Pleasure | Emily Mortimer | Short Film of the Day

The complexity of some experiences demand more than one medium for an expression. The short film is clear evidence of the same proposition as it ropes in poetry, dance, and the written word itself which forms the body of the narration. In addition to this, it includes a performance that suddenly finds itself in a place in direct contrast with all the lyricism, vastness of setting, and fluidity expressed so far - the confines of a drab corner, marked by its pale greys, where two people sit discussing a letter. The entirety of the narrative becomes a movement predominantly towards this moment in time, one that stands for not only a conflicted relationship between a son and his mother at a microcosmic level, but also the experience of understanding your identity. The idea of home and belonging, and what it truly means to have the same tied to the identity of your parents, or more specifically, as the title suggests, a mother, then becomes the concern at a more macrocosmic level. The film exhibits sophistication in its forward motion, as each of these thoughts is brought to life on screen, allowing the plot a cohesive structure. In the process, it further enables the narrative to share its intentions with an emphatic clarity while coupled with a surreal flow of images all along that more than fulfil their aim of communicating the meaning behind them.

Mother/Land | Short Film of the Day

‘uTransfer’ is an insightful glimpse that ties the many threads of sci-fi, technology, systemic racism, and immigrant realities together. The year is 2088 and the protagonist, Dean Flores, presents to us a world where he is trying to upload his consciousness to a parallel realm, created and supported by technology. The utopic ‘New World’ requires you to clear an exhaustive questionnaire before you are approved for the transfer. He hopes to be reunited with his dead brother in the process. 
 
The short film utilizes a fixed physical space, complete with its gadgets and devices, to portray all of this for the viewer via its predominantly single-cast set-up. The performance and writing become its most notable components, along with the screenplay, which remains tight and efficient and does not waste a single beat in delineating this world. 

The endeavor also presents an entire spectrum of emotions - from anger, loss, and tragedy, to ideas of justice and systemic racism. The end result that is eventually offered to the viewer becomes a sincere result that exhibits deep potential for more storytelling and engagement of the same kind.

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