Time of the Season

Short films are a sick man's refuge with S/W and SV picks + Doc NYC's "Short List"

Author

Jason Sondhi
November 17, 2023

I’m under the weather, which has made putting this newsletter together a slight chore, but I feel confident that I’m only two days away from feeling fine. The problem is I’ve been saying that for two weeks. 🙃 

I don’t share seeking sympathy, only understanding. Watching short films has, for long stretches, been the only productive thing I’ve felt capable of so forgive an edition that is, SURPRISE!, really heavy on shorts and light on unrelated commentary.

If that sounds good to you, let’s proceed.

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

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Fall of the Ibis King by Josh O'Caoimh & Mikai Geronimo

The antagonist of an opera becomes increasingly unsettled following the return of the former lead actor.

Monday saw Céline introduce us to the next great talents of Irish animation. Josh O'Caoimh & Mikai Geronimo envision a love triangle behind the scenes at an opera where the melodrama onstage becomes indistinguishable from the passions offstage. Fall of the Ibis King played Venice and qualified for Oscar and now the pair has joined the indie studio, and maps and plans, contributing to another Oscar hopeful that will premiere on the site next week.

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Confessions by Stephanie Kaznocha

After the death of a friend, two nuns, in their golden years, embark on a journey of self-discovery.

Céline also reviews Confessions, an adorably cute and light friendship comedy between two nuns harboring “dark” secrets in the twilight of their lives. Stephanie Kaznocha (editor of the modern classic sometimes, I think about dying) makes her directorial debut with this crowd-pleasing short. What was her inspiration? “I craved to see a world where people were gentle and compassionate with one another.”

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Bad Indian “The Villain Origin Story” by Abbey Monteiro

The results of Abbey's A-levels threaten her future. Can she create an illusion of truth to save her mother’s perception of her?

Georgina writes about Bad Indian “The Villain Origin Story” a peculiarly titled comedy that serves as a semi-autobiographical showcase for Abbey Monteiro to rebel against the “model-minority” stereotype of her upbringing as a British-Indian girl. Our review calls it a “high-energy roller coaster ride of a coming-of-age story.”

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My Blonde GF by Rosie Morris

A woman discovers her face has been digitally edited onto images of women in sexually explicit situations.

Then today, Rob highlights a new piece from Guardian Documentaries and director Rosie Morris. Tackling the fraught topic of “deep fakes”, rather than construct a dry dissertation of the new technology, the film embeds its perspective in Helen, a victim, as Morris decided that “all of the creative choices we made for the film (are) born from conversations we had with Helen about what happened to her and working out how best to show her experience on screen”.

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Finally, we also had a #fromthearchive short on our YouTube this week with Leoforis Patision (Patision Avenue). Featured on Short of the Week in 2020, the film has become one of our favorite single-take shorts, and its director, Thanasis Neofotistos has continued to see his star rise, following up this film with Airhostess-737, one of the more memorable and crowd-pleasing shorts of the past year.

📔 The 2023 Doc NYC “Short List”

Taking advantage of its late spot on the calendar, Doc NYC runs a special sidebar in its feature and short film programs called “Short List”, a chance for the festival to stake an early claim on awards-season contenders before the Academy trims down the pool of contenders in December.

We’ve rounded up the 15 films from the Short List into their own collection and it provides a strong snapshot of the race. Excitingly, most of these films are moving their way online, with Ben Proudfoot’s The Last Repair Shop, Puffling, and Nina & Irene hitting free streaming in the past week, and The Dads launching on Netflix today.

It’s important to remember that these selections lean heavily on distributor input, and, as such, there are very few unaffiliated shorts that made Doc NYC’s cut. Still, we hope to provide our own editorial evaluation of the categories on Short of the Week in the near future, to shine a light on some of our favorites that didn’t make the cut here.

🍿 New releases you’ve been enjoying…

Bygone Behemoth | Shortverse

A washed-up movie monster relives his halcyon days.

https://www.shortverse.com/films/bygone-behemoth

Not a new release to the world, but it is to Shortverse, and an example of something I personally am digging about the platform. I’m in the very tiny upper echelon of short film fans in the world, correct? Yet Harry Chaskin recently made a page for this short that received a Staff Pick in 2016, premiered at SXSW, and won Animation Block Party in 2010 but which I’d never heard of before. Of course, it is a total delight and is atop our trending collection on the homepage now. Filmmaker Radhia Jamil sums it up -

Go deeper into the world of shorts by joining our Discord community! Share your work, get advice, ask support questions, and hang out with talented creatives from around the world.

🎟 Coming soon that we’re excited about…

Teacups | Shortverse

For almost half a century, Don Ritchie would approach people contemplating suicide at the edge of a cliff, just 100 feet from his home, his palms facing up. Voiced by Hugo Weaving.

www.shortverse.com/films/teacups

Monday’s Short of the Week pick is in preview on Shortverse. Coming to us courtesy of Vari Coloured, this moving short from and maps and plans is kicking off a “for your consideration” run. Read this Q&A from our friends and Cartoon Brew to get excited about the short, and click that bell on the page to get notified when it goes live.

Thanks for reading. See you next week when I feel 200% confident I’ll feel better!