Why, yes, this is another shorts film festival best of list! I feel like there are three big festivals for shorts in the summer: Palm Springs, Indy Shorts, and, of course, HollyShorts. This festival, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is longer than its sister festivals, and for this list, I tried to not include any of the films that I saw there. I wish more people delved into world of shorts before the Oscar shortlists drop because it’s truly a world that you’ve never experienced before. But, also, stay away–I don’t need any competition.
Even if I am not including any repeats in my official list, my honorable mention list is packed with them since I revisited a lot as I got through HollyShorts extensive programs. Even though HollyShorts has massive, massive programming, it never felt overwhelming as I journeyed through its 10 days of films.
Honorable Mentions
- Auganic manages to be sexy, dramatic, and comforting all at once…
- Atomic Chicken might always get a laugh out of me?
- Complications has made me look at Zoom calls in a very, very different way…
- The Oscar shortlisted Good Boy (should’ve been nominated…) is a great reminder of the majesty of Ben Whishaw…
- Loser for how every non-popular high school student can relate…
- Syncope for making me feel every bone crack and every muscle tense…
- Play Date for its unflinching, unapologetic glimpse at shared grief
15. Thoughts & Prayers
I admit that I was jarred by Danny Farber’s film for how it mashes together its tone, but I am sure that Farber would tell me that that was the point. A young couple is hiding in a library because a school shooter has interrupted their breakup. Boy wants to end things, but girl needs more of an explanation. You don’t get more darkly comedic than this, and it feels, somehow, that this film is trying to soothe us while confronting such an ugly part of our culture.
14. Summons
Ken Cheng’s romantic charmer comforts me in that we will always have awkwardness when it comes to courtship. In the near future, a catastrophic event stops occurs and men and women must be paired with one another for the basis of procreation. It’s like The Hunger Games for fucking and romance. Some, like Jimmy O. Yang’s Eugene, want to follow the rules and do his civic duty while Alexandra Shipp’s Nina is keeping everything crossed that her name won’t be chosen, and she can keep some of her own free will.
13. The Grievance
As we hear more and more about AI entering our daily lives, is it inevitable to see it seep into every aspect of work? Sure, it can be used for good things out in the real world (like screening for diseases), but if technology keeps advancing, will it start replacing writers in a writers’ room? We already have kids using AI to do their homework, but Richie Keen’s amusing comedy pits a beleaguered head writer (Kevin Pollak) up against Adhir Kalyan’s robot. Is this the future? And can Rosie O’Donnell observe all HR disputes from now on?
12. A Family Guide to Hunting
Meeting the parents is typically fraught with paralyzing fear or anxiety. Perhaps the scary meeting of the in-laws has been totally ruined from other films and TV shows? Eva, a doomsday prepper, brings her white boyfriend on a hiking trip with her concerned, uptight Korean-American parents, and an ill-timed episode of oral sex ends…well, let’s just say badly? Zao Wang’s film is exactly why you should pay more attention to short films. It’s sharply written, well-acted, and everyone could use more Margaret Cho.
11. Summer’s End
There is an understood, youthful anger that permeates all throughout Adam and Grant Conversano’s film about a young man fed up with his father’s deception and infidelities. How are we supposed to live free and find ourselves when the examples set by our parents are unavoidable and color our expectations of growing up? How do we move on from that angst when it should help shape us as we move into adulthood?
10. Dovecote
Marco Perego’s deeply felt film is a feast for the senses as we follow one woman’s exit from a prison in Italy. Gorgeously shot with a humble, emotional performance from Zoe Saldana. Read the full review here.
9. Will I See You Again?
Two men must grapple with a reconnection neither of them are prepared for when a mutual friend does. How do we cope with our respective feelings when we are forced to? Michael Perez-Lindsey’s film introduces a conversation about faith and sexuality that should lead to more open doors. Check out a full review of the film here.
8. Fish Out of Water
Francesca Scorsese’s film is a tangled ode to accepting our parents’ former flaws and mistakes. Lexi is living in a small motel when he now-sober father tries to get her to come home to visit her ailing mother, and she considers it so her young son, Tyler, has more of a connection to her family. Scorsese’s hand is gentle but never too loose, and the confused and Jade Pettyjohn’s central performance is an emotionally charged anchor.
7. Bordovasca
A public pool becomes the scene of a horrific accident in the simply plotted thriller from Giuseppe Zampella. A young girl plays with her father on a crowded, sunny day, but an accident occurs that throws everything into a tailspin. Positioning the film from a child’s eyes only enhances the sense of danger and anxiety. This is the type of thriller that I feel like the Academy would respond to even if the ending leaves things more open to interpretation.
6. Novy God
Even if you hate New Year’s Eve, a sense of possibility remains. Maybe it has something to do with everyone else’s excitement permeating our psyches. Set in Israel, a Moldavian caregiver, Galina, is anxious to go on a date with a man for the first time in a long time. She looks after Nutzi, a stubborn 85 year old who would prefer to keep Galina to herself. The relationship between these two women is effectively built by director Anat Eisenberg, and you begin to see each prospective as the night threatens to wane on.
5. I Can Dom
I related very much to Madison Hatfield’s June in her film, I Could Dom. Sometimes when people tell you that they “don’t see you doing something” or “that’s not for you,” it makes you want to do it even more. Even if you just want to prove them wrong and feel included. June is trying to put herself out there and takes on a persona as someone familiar with a dom/sub dynamic when her people-pleaser personality is tested. The result is a cheeky, sharply drawn coming-of-age that proves you can always surprise yourself in ways you would never expect. Hatfield and Derek Evans (as June’s object of newly found fantastical affection) have charming chemistry.
4. Clodagh
Portia A. Buckley’s dramatic short carries a serious weight of discovery throughout it. A priest’s housekeeper normally keeps herself invisible as she cleans, but she remains the authority when she oversees an Irish step dancing class. When a desperate father seeks her help to include his daughter, she is blown away by her talent, but she comes to a moral crossroads when it comes time to finding out how to ensure this girl can participate. This is the type of film that captures an audience’s attention with its authenticity and genuine performances.
3. Help Me Understand
When you get people from all different backgrounds together to try and debate and resolve an issue, you are bound to have comedy naturally come out. I did not expect Aemilia Scott’s film to crack open my senses in a touching showcase of six women fully understanding one another and a shared experience. A group of women–Rachael Harris, Kate Flannery, Dierdre Friel, Kali Racquel, Nicole Michelle Haskins, and Dana Powell–sit in a clinical board room while they give their opinion two different types of fabric softener. While everyone agrees that one smells better than the other, one woman insists that she prefers the lesser-liked smell. Tensions run high and they all need the money, but Scott’s film highlights how unspoken, shared experiences can bond quicker than you anticipate.
2. If I Die in America
Ward Kamel’s film knocked the wind out of me. Gil Perez-Abraham’s Manny is dealing with the sudden loss of his husband as his phone keeps ringing. He receives word from his husband’s family that they want to bring his body back overseas in order to bury him in accordance to Muslim tradition, but Manny will not give up ownership of the body. Kamel often keeps Manny alone in the frame, his face bruised from an accident. When a liaison for the family comes to Manny’s door to try and convince him to give up his rights, it only makes him angrier as the film explores sudden grief, ownership, and saying goodbye. It’s a heartbreaking film.
1. French
A nail appointment spins wildly out of control in Dylan Joseph’s shocking short about a friendship being tested after a suspected betrayal. Sari is performing business as usual on the nails of her friend, Alona, when she notices that the gel is missing from her nails. Since there are only a few people who could’ve done this work, Sari needles her friend if she went to another manicurist. What starts as a normal appointment transforms into a battle of wills between two women who don’t want to back down. Joseph’s film has an inviting sheen and strong-willed performances that keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s acerbic, witty, and surprising.
