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 short film is a skilfully disconcerting exploration of maternal love and the disturbing manner in which it tears a family apart. It opens with a grim shot of a red-cheeked child in a coffin, invoking a sense of morbidity that would come to haunt the entirety of the narrative. Unable to let go of their dead son, the couple finds itself making their way to a doll-maker. The latter can briefly make them forget about the death of their son, with a fair warning to never let the illusion overpower their sense of reality. As a horror story would have it, the characters of course overlook the warning, or find themselves incapable of paying heed to it, leading to dire consequences. The Dollmaker is a deeply engaging story, sure to satisfy admirers of horror and otherwise. Albeit not entirely fresh, it is an interesting and engaging comment on the indomitable human desire to bring someone back from the dead and to seek transitory relief, as illusory as it might be, from loss and pain, even at the cost of complete self-annihilation.

The Dollmaker | Short Film of the Day

The film exploits its economy of dialogues to a huge extent and disturbs the viewer deeply in the process. Reminding you once again that supernatural is not always important to invoke a deep sense of horror and chills that run down your spine, threatening to consume your being, the film instead employs the darkness of the human mind. It simply rides on objects found in any average household - sewing pins and brooches - to terrify the viewer. There is no direct act of overt violence, mind you, beyond the image of a man tied to a bed. There is also no ostentatious camerawork or gimmicky plot devices to hook the viewer to the narrative. However, what the film achieves is something far deeper and darker. It shows the complete collapse of a familial space, a structure we are traditionally conditioned to see as a source of warmth and safety. It drives its characters to points of selfish acts from where there is no return in the name of preserving their lives. Based on a true story of a woman who had harmed her family in a similar fashion as the protagonist of the film, Nose Nose Nose Eyes is the stuff of nightmare even fans of horror were too scared to ask for, but were rewarded with it anyway.

Nose Nose Nose Eyes | Short Film of the Day

A film does not always have to deal with grand thematic concerns for it to be powerful and lasting in the impression it makes. Sometimes it can simply deal with a single moment of grief to shatter your heart and, in the process, justify its title, Heartbreaker. Sincere and poignant in the authenticity with which it approaches and portrays the underpinnings of the plot, the story is of a custody battle between a young mother and childcare services. As you are allowed a longer glimpse into the mother's life, the heartache and grief of separation become characters in their own right. At the core of the narrative rest potent questions about parenting - is only love enough? Who decides these parameters of what is and what isn't enough? Consequently, the film leaves you struggling with ideas of right and wrong, the several complexities of the adult world fighting over an innocent infant who has no understanding of the events unfolding around her and most importantly, about the urgency of protecting her from the very person who could have been responsible for her well-being in a parallel world. In terms of its storytelling, and moving beyond the sentiment it engages with, the film is especially beautiful in the manner in which it employs sound. Be it a gentle humming, an eerie silence gradually building into something else or an indistinctly muffled conversation, as disorienting as viewing a blurry world from underwater - all of them serve the purpose of amplifying the inherent sentiment of the narrative, leading to a story that stays with you long after you are done interacting with it.

Heartbreaker | Short Film of the Month

Our introduction to Johnny is by way of his job as a food delivery executive. Beyond this, however, there seems to be little that constitutes his world. Johnny spends his days, when not making deliveries, living with his mother. His desperate, but well-meaning attempts to carve a life for himself always meet a disappointing end, tinging the protagonist's existence with tragic mundaneness. 

The insipid nature of his life is allowed a skilled portrayal marked by the absence of a background score or music of any kind that would have suggested a break from the monotony. This approach is coupled with a lovely vulnerability brought to life by Tony Falk's performance as the subdued delivery man. Devoid of unnecessary frills and fuss, the film shares a narrative that is steadfast, cohesive and skilfully weaved.
 
However, when things seem bleak without any conceivable escape, Johnny's defence mechanism perhaps makes him believe in the possibility of a better life which can be achieved by way of lottery tickets. If there are no other avenues left for him to try his hand at, maybe it's time to turn to some good, old luck. While the soulless job persists, alongside the complete lack of the social life Johnny longs for, the scratching of lottery tickets continues. It is somewhere between these moments that Someluck conjures its calm story, lucidly communicating the doleful, quiet surrender of an unremarkable and uninspiring life of tedium.

Someluck | Short Film of the Day

Libby and Erin are new parents to a little boy who has arrived with a few hiccups in tow, circumstances they are not entirely prepared for. There appears to be a disconnect between them in the resolution of these, one which becomes the driving force and the primary thematic concern of the narrative. As their doubts and uncertainties are exposed for a conversation, it is a plate of placenta around which the drama unfolds. 
The afterbirth becomes a nexus of anxieties, discomfort, and uncomfortable conversations. The screenplay, chemistry, and most crucially, prop support (!), each outdoes the other in bringing this reality to life, presenting a film that is not only sincere and heartfelt in an effortless manner but also manages to express all its gravitas with humor and drama tied together. 
While our new parents might have a thing or two to figure out about this massive change in their lives, the film and its execution remain clear and steadfast in the expression of its intentions all along.

Placenta Pâté  | Short Film of the Month

The music video most beautifully addresses a storm within - one of familial conflicts and domestic upheavals, as well as a storm without - Hurricane Maria of 2017. Following the story of a woman who is a single mother to two daughters, the song invokes the forever forward moving motion of life that waits for none. Irrespective of the destruction the Hurricane left in its wake in Puerto Rico, the resilient human spirit refuses to give in. Once again houses are raised from the rubble and business goes on as usual. Along with everything else, the video is also a comment on survival and how life will continue to thrive in the face of all adversity. Be it a natural disaster that uprooted houses or be it our own choices of choosing partners that threatened and perhaps even proved to be extremely tumultuous for our lives, there is nothing that truly stops the protagonist from pushing through, if for nothing then for her daughters. Mela Murder delivers the most stellar performance as Milagros, the woman who takes on the world singlehandedly as a perseverant mother. She translates the vulnerability as well as the fierceness of her character gloriously to the screen. This, when coupled with soulful vocals by Alynda Mariposa Segarra, and intelligently chosen visuals that tell Milagros' story, along with a chapter from the life of Puerto Rico, offer a brilliantly achieved narrative and music video.

Pa'lante | Short Film of the Day

The narratives which are hyper-localised in an honest fashion somehow achieve an element of universality, won't you agree? This documentary short film goes ahead to prove the same point through the story of a mother-daughter duo in Colombia. The film locates itself in a Colombian settlement close to a patch of mangroves. As the local community harvests the piangua shellfish from the area, the narrative becomes a story of a mother preparing her daughter for the same task. However, amidst it all, a major foe remains to be conquered - the little girl's fear of water. The biggest strength of the film is its story which is endearing and poignant in equal measure. The delineation of a mother leading her daughter through this rite of passage in the face of all fears and apprehension is handled masterfully by the film. The smooth execution further allows it to successfully and subtly draw attention to a small community's efforts to work with the resources in their environment in a sustainable fashion. This is accompanied by overcoming the little obstacles in their day-to-day to life, allowing Dulce to be a moving story about human bonds and the environment in general, and a relationship between a mother and her daughter in particular.

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