The title of the film is a wonderful prelude to what is to come - the delineation of the many aspects of a person's relationship with their hair, especially if they are fond of them. On the face of it, the story is a simple one - a little girl waking up on a special day, and excited about working on a favourite hairstyle. As she flips open an iPad, a video tutorial of the coiffure she has chosen awaits her. Soon, the father is also roped in into her struggle, accentuating the absence of her mother, leading the viewer to assume estrangement or a recent death. The narrative is effortlessly weaved, striking the right emotional chords with its audience, with just about the most balanced sprinkling of humour. However, it soon unfolds to reveal a darker reality, where a person's love for their hair comes to stand for several things - perhaps a battle with terminal illness, the road to recovery and eventual hope. It also represent's a woman's understanding of her beauty, with or without a beautiful mane, while also engaging with single parenting. Add to it a much needed, non-stereotypical portrayal of cats as being indifferent, but not devoid of affection as is in the case of the Satan spawns they are made out to be... and voila! The film becomes an endearing, touching and heartwarming experience.

Hair Love | Short Film of the Day

There are not enough cliches that can be quoted with respect to simplicity and the extent to which it can strengthen an idea. However, they are as rife as they are for a reason - they hold true in many cases, and this film happens to be one such example. It does not attempt to make any loud noises about what it wants to convey. Neither does it paint itself as a pathbreaking narrative on gender, demanding all ears and eyes be turned in its direction. On the contrary, it is a quiet, objective delineation of one night in the life of a young girl, on the cusp of adulthood in modern-day Cairo. It is clear from the very start that negotiation with the many dynamics of gender and the manner in which they locate a young woman in society is at the very heart of the narrative. From attention from a boy she is confused about, and definitely uncomfortable with after a point, to simply walking around on a dark, lonely street. From the comfort of a warm bed, to the isolation that comes along with it irrespective of the family and friends the protagonist is surrounded with - the film engages with it all, and yet, does not make a clamour for attention. It is perhaps in this calm approach of the story and its execution that the success of Youth lies, allowing it to participate in the conversation on gender with its silently confident and impactful manner.

Youth | Short Film of the Day

The film opens on a lovely, light-hearted note, completely beguiling and leaving the viewer unprepared for the sinister plot developments that await them at the most unexpected corner. The laughter and giggles soon give way to an awkward unease that come to constitute the power dynamics of three teenaged girls. There is a suggestion of the threats that girls alone at night are left vulnerable to in a patriarchal set-up where their identities are often reduced to their sexuality. This is presented to the viewer in the form of three young men they soon encounter. However, the plot still continues to revolve around the discomfort that is growing among the girls, alongside the thrill and excitement of breaking a few rules - all three parties unequal participants in these emotions. The narrative manages to invoke a powerful delineation of the concern of a girl who is insecure and worried about her friend as well as the arrival of a new member that potentially threatens to shake the security of their duo. The plot finally comes to revolve around a single decision that would change their lives forever. It is perhaps also a remote comment on how, along with patriarchy, young women themselves can hurt each other while being preoccupied with a sense of competition with each other that society has conditioned them to internalise. There is also a reminder of the recklessness of teenage life which might result in rash decisions, while not always conveying at first the gravity of the consequences they are capable of leading to.

Night Swim | Short Film of the Day

Using dialogues as a precious commodity, the film invokes a powerful narrative about a sense of loss and parting. As Alex' relocation to another community in Miami begins, Loggy, her best friend, finds it difficult to cope with the change. The palpability of her anger and grief is achieved expertly by the narrative. This is owed majorly to the positioning, structuring and weaving together of the few, but significant events in the story. From doing each other's hair to building a little memorial to mark the move, Liberty employs subtle tools to portray the grief of its characters. The story in itself is told in a simple and direct manner, and it is in this that the success of the film lies. It does not take refuge in grand gestures or gaudy techniques to convey what it had set out to at the start. With strong performances and convincing chemistry, the film makes full use of its cast. The camerawork ensures that the viewer is entirely engrossed in their story and the writing keeps the pace just right. Consequently, owing to the wholesomeness of all of these elements, the gravity of the movie is successfully communicated to the viewer, now an equal participant in the loss of the protagonist.

Liberty | Short Film of the Day

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 film is notably impactful in its brevity. The story is a powerful account of the overwhelming experience of a miscarriage that its protagonist, Margot has recently undergone. The subsequent narrative is not weighed down by verbal profusions of any kind. 

Instead, the palpability of emotions weaving the narrative together becomes the most overarching force, reducing everything else to the background. The writing, screenwriting, and performances all support this endeavor all the way, ensuring that the end result of the film is deeply moving and poignant. 

The realm of ‘Fly-Tipping’ is constructed with the utmost care, ensuring that it succeeds in communicating all of this and some more - what could have been had the pregnancy run its full course? What might have caused its abrupt termination? Would they have been good parents? As the two characters lie on the abandoned, bloodstained mattress in the middle of a field, the clouds continue to carry these questions and thoughts away into nothingness.

Fly-Tipping | Short Film of the Day

‘Women Lockdown’ is an intensely personal conversation about dreams, hopes, passions, but also things that weigh you down, stand in the way of everything you want or desire. 
The tonality and approach remains beautifully intimate throughout as the narrative introduces us to five women. The authenticity with which their experiences are brought to life allows the film a universality that works most wonderfully in its favor. 

The visuals are experimental, suffused with symbolism and metaphors, coupled with a background score that further amplifies the sentiment the narrative intends to convey. The emotion thus brought to life is honest and poignant, as the conversation, and the ensuing visuals, continue to flow with ease and seamlessness.

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