To say that the film is poignant would be an understatement. What would be apt instead is to call it an accurate portrayal of the raw, visceral fear of being a colored person in a predominantly white nation, where racial identity could mean vastly different things in the same, seemingly mundane situation. The film’s glorious success lies in communicating this without explicitly spelling out any of it. The entire action of the narrative comes to revolve around a single phone call, structured most expertly to engage the viewer even before they realise it. Soon, you find yourself unwittingly becoming part of the emotional unraveling of a mother as she breaks down over the safety of her son. In that moment, she is any and all of us who have ever found their security threatened simply because they belonged to a specific gender, race, religion or nation. If the purpose of art is to disturb and lead to reformative action, this film is art in the truest sense. Insightful, meticulous and brilliant in its exploration of the identity of the marginalised, the Other and the discriminated against, the film does an impeccable job of disorienting your deepest sense of order and safety, introducing you to a disconcerting reality in the process.

One Of Us | Short Film of the Day

The music video triggers several ideas to pace through your mind while trying to truly comprehend the visuals on screen. The palette is cool, the colours minimal and the location stunning. It is seemingly the story of a protagonist and his relationship with a horse. There is a surreal, otherworldly, abstract emotion that can be associated with the whole video, only further supplemented by its mesmerising and closely controlled vocals. The writing and the visuals exhibit a sophisticated weaving together, with not even a single extra moment wasted on either. The narrative takes its time to build, and yet does not under-utilise any component or element to put forth its message. Both the video and the song are essentially about power, race and the colour of the skin perhaps. It is a reminder to not trivialise someone's well-directed anger and emotion and simply render their discontent a "lover's quarrel". The lyrics demand an equality which seems to be missing when a disagreement is defined in this manner, hinting that it is one of equals. However, how can it be a conversation of equals if even the mere presence of this discrimination is brushed aside? The video raises this question in a poignant manner and leaves the viewer grappling with its potential answers.

Quarrel | Short Film of the Day

Poetry is a powerful tool for the revolution of thought, one that is capable of making you sit up, pay attention and bring reformative change. The aspiration for this reform also rests at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement which shook the world in 2020 as it went ahead to explicitly state what should be a well-accepted fact - someone with a darker skin tone does not mean they deserve to be discriminated against or are any less worthy of equality. What the narrative of the film does is add to the same conversation, raising pressing, politically-charged questions, but with the lyricism of poetry. It is marked by music and dance, suggesting a fluid, free-flowing space of expression as a woman moves gracefully in the vast expanse of a field. Unfortunately, when it comes to racial identity, this freedom still remains a pipe-dream. However, in the face of systemic oppression, the ideas of equality, freedom and justice will reign free. The black experience will not be obliterated by the weapons of a discriminatory few, becomes the overarching message of the narrative, along with the reminder to take the first step, which might sometimes also mean looking within. No act of change, as small as it might be, is inconsequential, further asserts the film, leaving you with a poignantly moving sense of hope.

Shapes and Colors | Short Film of the Day

The year is 1983, but the dynamics of gender and race are not far from our contemporary society. Consequently, when a young woman in East Los Angeles decides to join a neighborhood gang following a traumatic experience, her mother is unable to come to terms with it. Further prodding reveals the true reasons behind this decision, also taking the viewer into a far darker reality. While the film had opened on a seemingly light note of young women applying make-up and helping a friend get ready, the narrative soon acquires a tone of sinister tales marked by monsters and wolves. It further brings in an element of fantasy, the same also finding a visual representation when the big, bad wolf comes out to hunt unsuspecting girls. A reality of sexual assault, gun violence, systemic racism is conjured for the story to drive home its message in a more emphatic manner. As the conversation between the mother and her daughter progresses, we see a Red Riding Hood preparing to brace the cruel world outside, ensuring to muster all her courage and putting together the armor needed for the foray she is about to step into. However, in the closing dialogue of the film lies an important assertion, that wolves continue to prowl fearlessly, even in the most unexpected corners, leaving Red Riding Hoods off guard and in serious jeopardy everywhere.

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