For the 13th year, NBCUniversal’s Short Film Festival has given a platform to filmmakers to showcase films with a potential to grace silver screens everywhere.
During day two of the semi-finals, eight shorts were premiered; each very different from each other but similar in their ability to address pressing topics this generation faces through capturing storylines.
The first movie opened with an image of a soccer ball rolling through a cave-like path. Tzeva Adom: Color Red, tells the story of the Palestinian and Jordanian conflict through the lens of a young boy, a female soldier, and a YouTube video. As tensions rise, from this unlikely connection comes alliance.
Second to grace the silver screen is a heartwarming tale of a daddy-daughter duo who gets their annual visit from “mommy.” Meeting Mommy is a love story in which both father and daughter must face loss, but not without mommy’s guiding hand.
The premiere of We Know Where You Live allowed the audience to loosen up as the film used comedy to subtly address concepts such as race, sexuality, and especially, gentrification through a plot about a couple moving into a California home, another couple was denied.
The screening of Green took us back to reality as the audience was taken along the journey of a newly undocumented person in American named Green. Green works as a carriage cyclist in the city and lives in a house with other undocumented men who all live in fear of being deported. Once Green gets tired of living his life walking on egg shells, he tries to finally stand up for himself and things seemingly take a turn for the worst.
Have it All is a comedy about a new mom who is trying her best to have it all. Most of the film happens between the mother and child until they end up in mom’s male-dominated workplace. The mom role is played by writer and director of the film, Katie Locke O’Brien.
Rani, written and directed by Hammad Rizvi, is an incredible film that follows Rani, a transgendered Pakistani woman, who decides to mother an abandoned infant. However, this decision is soon changed by the harsh realities of Rani’s everyday life and what it means to be transgendered in Pakistan.
Hush Hush, a horror comedy directed by Thomas Nolle, shows Dan and his friends coming home from a secret, unauthorized trip to Coachella to a horrible surprise from Dan’s younger sister.
The Mailbox, an NYU Tisch film directed by Louis Yin, focuses on a mailbox that serves as a time machine. The mailbox enables a boy to help his great grandfather in a life or death situation, and ultimately helps himself.
It was amazing to see how much these filmmakers accomplished with such little time. All of the shorts were relatable and sends positive messages to ease pressing matters. Congratulations to all the film makers on their projects and making it to the semi finals with awesome shorts.
