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Best of the Month picks + my favorite TV show is ending ;_;
Jason Sondhi
September 01, 2023
Entering into a holiday weekend here in the US so today’s newsletter is slimmed down to a lean and mean injection of rigorously selected, high-quality content for your viewing pleasure.
But before we get to it, a check-in on last week’s news: submissions for our Unsanctioned Shorts Competition have been open for a week and are going strong. 10 days to go, please share with eligible filmmakers that you may know!
📅 This Week on Short of the Week
Sam Cutler-Kreutz made a name shooting early work for ‘Short of the Year’ winners’ rubberband, and he and David Cutler-Kreutz employ an incredibly up-close and visceral camera style to their toxic masculinity thriller, Flounder. Adam handles the review and says “This is the myth of what it means to be a man, passed down like a family heirloom…”
Rob then suggests Sam Arbor and Adam Ali’s short Baba, which has been a star on the queer festival circuit. The Libyan setting of the film adds extra stakes to its familiar story of a young person’s choice between home and an uncertain but potentially liberating future.
On Wednesday, I stretched out my typing fingers to share my esteem for Varun Chopra’s monumental work of “hybrid” filmmaking—the DocNYC grand-prize-winning short Holy Cowboys. Chopra blends documentary and scripted narrative techniques to tell the story of India’s slide towards right-wing nationalism in the micro—centering his story on a boy who is seduced by a group of “cow-protector” vigilantes.
Thursday saw our monthly highlight of our favorite recent selections. Congrats to Varun, Alfie Barker, and Yu Sun!
Finally, today’s pick is from Karimah Zakia Issa. It’s best to go in a bit blind, but Céline notes that it “…starts from a conventional place, but as it twists its premise the film takes on a double perspective, adding a unique depth to its depiction of a mundane and universal situation."
On our YouTube channel, we showcased Flounder to start the week, but also reached out to one of our favorite artists, the celebrated animator Renee Zhan, to close the week with her delightful 3min short, Soft Animals, which Céline reviewed earlier this year.
🪐 Shortverse Collections
Shortverse gets its own Best of the Month too, with 9 films that our programming team highlighted. My personal recommendations are Abteen Bagheri’s buzz-worthy music video for Benjamin Earl Turner and Amor to Love, an absurd retro-looking film that was a crowd-pleaser at Fantastic Fest and London Short Film Fest among other spots.
🎭 Culture Recommend: “How To with John Wilson” Finale
Tonight is the series-finale on HBO of what is probably my favorite current show. It’s How To with John Wilson, the quixotic documentary series that follows one man as he obsessively films New York. Each episode ostensibly seeks to educate the viewer about a mundane topic, but the titled premise (‘How to Make Small Talk’, ‘How To Work Out’…) quickly plunges into insane rabbit holes that range from quirky to profound.
I am biased as the show grew out of short films John would share on Vimeo, and during my time there I had the pleasure of programming his work for Staff Picks and various other showcases. The shorts caught the attention of Nathan Fielder, who executive produces the show, but the episodes really feel like they are simply the perfection of a formula John developed over a decade ago.
Jacob, who does a lot of the product work for Shortverse, was visiting NYC from Oakland this week so we went out to Rooftop Films’ sneak preview of tonight’s finale, "How To Track Your Package". Hoo-boy! It’s a humdinger—one of the strangest, yet most emotionally resonant episodes of the show’s entire run. If you haven’t checked out the show before I encourage you to give it a shot, you can jump right in with the finale if you like, each episode is stand-alone.
Congrats John on completing three seasons of one of the strangest, most singular, and ultimately most satisfying shows on TV. Can’t wait to see what comes next for you!
▶️ Watch “How To with John Wilson on Max (Subscription Required)
Jacob with John after the show
That’s it for now, but with the fall festivals arriving soon and award season kicking into gear, there will be plenty to chew on in the coming weeks. As always, jump into our Discord to discuss any and all of it with our team and filmmakers from around the globe.