The narrative is simply the capturing of a moment in the lives of two immigrants who happen to be brothers. The vulnerability and plight of undocumented people is delineated most delicately in this film which does not use the inherent sentimentalism of such a situation as a crutch. Instead, it manages to portray a point of crisis in the lives of the siblings which happens to be a product of their national and cultural identity. The story opens at a point when the Turkish brothers have been recently reunited. Consequently, the younger brother Samet has more than a few lessons to be learnt about life in the big city. Elder brother Abi is protective of him, yet is wary of making him too soft that might leave him unprepared for the vagaries of the mini-universe that thrives in New York. The film does the most poignant, subtle and nuanced job of weaving together the anxiety, insecurity and uncertainty of fate for a pair like theirs, along with the very brazen realities of the world that includes racism, hate crimes and a strong, inherent sense of self-preservation which both lurches the brothers forward in their lives, as well as lands them in a deeply undesirable situation. Green manages to achieve all of this and more, without explicitly spelling out any of it. It puts together a narrative about a person's engagement with a foreign environment, and interacts with situations where revealing your identity, even if to seek the absolute urgent help, is a fate worse than extreme corporeal harm. It further becomes a strong comment 
about the lives of undocumented immigrants not simply in New York, but also in other parts of the world, where the risk of deportation is a dominating, looming presence that threatens to consume all sense of security, safety and the accessibility to the most basic human existence.

Green | Short Film of the Day

Some of the most powerful stories are those marked by the least ostentatious tools and devices, and Hudson Geese goes ahead to become the perfect example of the same proposition. Marked by a voiceover coupled with animation, the film adopts a calm pace and tone, using extreme ease to hoodwink the viewer of what is truly to come. The plot maps a goose's migration flight, while he moves back and forth in the narrative, introducing you to his life so far - from finding himself a loving companion, to the changing landscape of the world around him, his story encompasses it all. As fields are turned into plush golf courses, and islands become over-riden with the sharp angles of a haphazardly growing urban infrastructure, coupled with the bird's inability to understand the rapidly evolving world around him, a pertinent comment is invoked on humans' relationship with nature. Director and writer Bernardo Britto's voice and the conceptualisation of the story is singularly wry, all the while carrying within it a hard-hitting comment on society. The humour inherent to the narrative is deliberately misleading to make the eventual progression of events all the more jarring. On the face of it, the film is simply the story of a goose, however, a single engagement with it is more than sufficient to reveal the expert and sophisticated manner in which an important message is conveyed without making it didactic or overbearing.

Hudson Geese | 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

When an issue is looked at with sincere meticulousness, no matter how localized, it attains a universality of tone. Consequently, the concern and the urgent need to secure accessibility for disabled people in New York's subway stations, becomes a call for more inclusive and accessible public spaces for anyone living with a disability in any part of the world. It is in this manner that the documentary becomes an engagement with a subject of extreme relevance and note. 

 The voices that are employed to bolster this conversation, New York State Assembly officials, Metropolitan Transportation Authority representatives, and of course, those who are at the forefront of the protests, demanding more accessible subway stations for the disabled, are lucid, comprehensive and powerful, ensuring that the narrative conveys its intentions in an unequivocal manner. A 2020-product, the film also marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 1990, serving as a disconcerting reminder of how far not only American society, but the entire global space, remains from being inclusive for those living with a disability. 

 To assert its intentions with the urgency required for the issue, the film further invokes the memory of twenty-one-year old Malaysia Goodson who lost her life in January 2019 as she carried a stroller with her one-year-old daughter down the stairs at a subway station in New York. In the process, it brings to life the pain, loss, grief left in the wake of the authorities' lackadaisical approach to the issue, and their inability to act, and instead spend crucial resources on beautifying stations that serves little practical purpose. As it draws the viewer's attention to the systemic discrimination against disabled people, causing great difficulty for them in finding a house, getting hired, or simply commuting from one part of the city to another, the film makes a strong case for the cause, ensuring that it does not simply present a concern, but encourages a thought pattern that might one day hopefully take the form of reformative action.

All Riders | Short Film of the Day

It is Christmas eve and George Peabody is already on his third nightcap when he is visited by the most unlikely visitor, Santa Claus himself. As the struggle begins to come up with a wish to ask of him, the plot develops alongside it. The approach remains marked by the union of ASMR with an audio narrative to bring the said reality to life. While tying itself with rhymes and poetry, along with humor, and ideas of sinning and atonement thrown in the mix, the story is presented thus. Though it may have suggested festive cheer with its title and establishment, the reality is far from that in the most shocking, albeit entertaining, ways. The end result follows another riotous adventure of a Peabody family member in a similar vein as the previous 'Dreamlands' instalment by Tom Mason, and takes us deeper into the life of the protagonist with its trademark, unique treatment of the storytelling form.

The Dreamlands Christmas Special | Short Film Nominee

The film is a quiet conversation with memory, past, culture and a life left behind, that employs food and a traditional cuisine as a bridge to achieve the same. The documentary introduces the viewer to the lived reality of Kyo Pang, the owner of a kopitiam or a traditional Indonesian coffee shop in New York, and how her relationship with food has come to shape and influence her lived reality. Using Pang's narrative, the film also manages to raise significant points about immigration, a person's relationship, and perhaps even a longing, for their roots, and the desire to not only preserve, but also share them with those around. By way of its calm engagement, which deliberately steers clear of loud noises or gimmicky tools, the film further invokes the Baba-Nyonya culture of Pang's childhood, allowing a glimpse into it, while also straddling the culinary history of her past. As ideas of family and tradition are tied together to weave the narrative, Kopitiam comes across as a sincere endeavour to tell an authentic story about a highly personal and intimate experience. It is precisely these very qualities which endow it with a universal tone.

Kopitiam | 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.

Soledad | Short Film Nominee

New York, a city overflowing with activity and marked by the hustle and bustle of a population that is undaunted and unstoppable in its forward moving motion, presented a staggering picture in the year 2020. As the world came to a stock-still, so did the city, bidding goodbye to the sounds and the movement that were once so inherently characteristic of it. The short video weaves together a set of images to depict the same reality for the viewer. While the subway remains empty, the roads despondent, we are left with a reminder of the might of an invisible virus that clutched the world tightly within its grasp. The narrative does not opine or offer its own views on the situation. It simply shows what is, by presenting different corners of New York, many easily recognisable as being synonymous with the city itself. The Time the City Slept, thus, remains direct and uncomplicated in its approach, serving as a visual encapsulation of a mini-universe that was changed beyond all recognition during the pandemic which confined the global population indoors.

The Time the City Slept | Short Film Nominee

The series of videos documents the manner in which life has come to a halt, or not, in a city like New York that has always been known for its vibrancy and the hustle-bustle of activity. The lead in the narrative brings in voices from across the spectrum to explore the same premise. From hair-dressers to construction workers to artists in the performance space - a whole array of people are spoken with to share their experience of a life in a world battling a pandemic. The videos strive to keep their tone tinged with humor and lightheartedness, hoping to keep the viewer's thoughts away from the morbidity that has come to define contemporary times. Overall, the final result is a sincere attempt to look at different pockets of New York, using the experiences of its protagonist as she invites the viewer into her universe, and also, her interactions with those around her. The product, however, could have gained from a more cohesive narrative to hold all of these visuals together, along with a little more stability in them.

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