The short film is the most beautiful and brilliantly executed engagement with the notions of memory, time, nostalgia and the familial space. As the protagonist shares his technique of packing, one passed on to him by his father, he takes the viewer deeper into a moving, poignant narrative, marked by the same minimalism as that of its parent text by Ron Koertge. Before you even realise where you have located yourself, the story has already managed to engage and involve you beyond the point of no return. The visuals use stop-motion animation in a skilled and sophisticated way, marking transitions in the narration of the protagonist's past experiences by vividly surreal images. The film ends with a beautiful metaphor allowing the negative space to be a comment on the gaps in communication that may have potentially been part of the protagonist's relationship with his father, as well as being a potent marker of what truly came to define their equation - the art and technique of packing.

Negative Space | Short Film of the Day

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 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

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

The film opens on a note of chirpy voices and brotherly banter being exchanged between two siblings. This is in direct contrast with the deeply intense and poignant themes the narrative would come to be an engagement with. After a crisis, thirteen-year-old Joey and his eight-old-brother Ricardo return to start a new chapter of their life with their mother. The scene is of nervous anticipation and feverish excitement on the part of the mother, clearly elated to have her sons back. Joey, on the other hand, is controlled and calm, setting in place another notable contrast. The visuals serve to assert this contrast further as Joey stands against a brightly-lit window, light just within reach, while he stays completely covered in shadows. His mother's effusive love is met with a sombre, "I'm thirteen, mom", a reminder to treat him like a grown-up. It is evident from the progression of the story that these little disagreements of approach of the two is building up to a bigger clash. A night of celebration soon acquires a ominous tone, further put in place by a smart, if not entirely unique, use of lights. As memories of a past life resurface, the emotional darkness that accompanies them threatens to engulf the precarious happiness of the night with misery, anger and resentment. Basing itself on a true story, the short film thus becomes a successful and notable portrayal of the several nuances and complexities that plague the familial space. This is further enhanced by a plot that succeeds at offering a beautiful interplay of the many forces that pull the various components of a family apart, and the resilience that ensures that they keep pushing and falling back into place.

Crows Nest | Short Film of the Day

‘All Through the Night’ is a heartfelt exploration of a father-son relationship prima facie. However one requires only a slightly closer look to realize the myriad undercurrents that constitute it. The narrative invokes memory, a fraught relationship with the past, familial dynamics, and their potentially volatile nature. 

Neil has arrived at his childhood home for a farewell, one that is as inevitable as it is essential. His father Alexander, a former choir conductor, battles Alzheimer’s and is about to move to a health facility permanently. While trying to comprehend this rapidly disappearing relationship with his father, Neil finds himself looking back at his own memories of him, perhaps in a manner he had not done before. As precarious as the balance might be, a balance that holds the last vestiges of their equation, it is still tightly controlled and molded by a shared past, no matter how turbulent. Music, at last, becomes the common thread to tie it all together. Finally now, during a moment of goodbye, the two reach and inhabit the same plane, even if ever so briefly, suggests the narrative. 

Along with portraying a poignant story, the film also does a notable job of raising awareness about the illness itself, and the many ways Alzheimer’s affects families and carers. The writing, performances, visual progression, and background score, all aid this endeavor notably, allowing the film to come together with smoothness and ease.

All Through the Night  | Short Film of the Month

While trying to come to terms with his relationship with his father, the protagonist gives the viewer an intense, unabashed look at everything the relationship has meant for him. The narrative explores the co-existence of an all-consuming, overwhelmingly powerful love, positioned right beside the complete absence of it, or worse, its transformation into anger, bitterness, and resentment. While there may be hope and desire for a bond between two people, if the foundation is already festering, there is little room for any kind of redemption or salvaging, the film suggests. 

At the film’s start, we are presented with the image of the protagonist writing something, but if it’s a literal reality of him writing something based on his relationship with his father, or is it only a metaphor for him re-writing the relationship itself in his head to eventually find closure and thereby move on, becomes a relevant thought to engage with. 

As the plot develops, talks of dreams and writing find their way into it, coupled with Shakespearean lyricism. However, each element only leads to the same discussion, the portrayal of a highly damaging equation, and the power it still has over the protagonist. He may feel suffocated, and uncomfortable, presented alongside the Oedipal image of a son inflicting violence on his father. There may be harking back to the childhood games, and yet, all of it always remains punctuated by something graver, heavier. Pain, hurt, and disappointment never leave the narrative, finding an echo within the screenplay and performances, while being portrayed in an engaging, experimental manner all along for the audience to interact with.

How We Play | Short Film of the Day

A core motivation of the film remains its interaction with the fierce love of a mother for her son. However, the approach to explore this is far from what one might expect, allowing the unpredictability to work in its favor notably. Maya is under immense debt, is unable to stay away from alcohol, and on top of it all, now faces an imminent future where her son might be taken away from her. The question on which the narrative thus begins to pivot becomes how far is a woman willing to go to not allow this to happen? The plot operates within a controlled space, keeping the film's approach and utilization of resources limited and lean to bring its intentions to life, and some more. Also backed by strong performances, it presents a story that is engaging, shocking, and at the end of it, taken home in a deliberately disturbing manner.

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