The Holly Shorts Festival | London 2024
In the glittering world of film festivals, feature films are, of course, celebrated, while shorts—often created by emerging directors—can be largely overlooked. The HollyShorts Film Festival, therefore, plays an important role by shining a much-needed spotlight on these often-overlooked cinematic gems. Below is a brief roundup of some of my personal favorites from this year’s festival.
7 short films
Ausgang, Sofie, directed by Zoe Munlyn, offers a fascinating exploration of the mixed-race community living in Germany during the Nazi era. The fate of Black and mixed-race Germans is a subject often overlooked in portrayals of this period, making the story of the film’s central character—a mixed-race teenager—all the more compelling. The short focuses on her early support for the Nazi regime, only for her worldview to be shattered when she discovers that the figure she idolizes, Hitler, is building a society that will ultimately reject her. What makes this well-directed film particularly compelling is its shift through time, highlighting the role that Black and mixed-race actors played in the German propaganda film industry—an industry that, paradoxically, provided a means of survival for some who remained.
Anuja is a powerful and much-needed look at the plight of child labor. Sensitively directed by American philosopher-turned-filmmaker Adam J. Graves and set in India, the film was made with the support of the local charity Salaam Baalak Trust. It follows Anuja, a precocious nine-year-old orphan who quits school to work alongside her sister in a local garment factory. There, a former teacher tracks her down and offers her a place at a prestigious academy. Anuja is suddenly faced with a life-altering decision—one that will determine not only her own future, but that of her family as well. With the number of child laborers growing worldwide, Anuja addresses a pressing and timely issue.
Anuja | The Human Spirit | Indy Shorts Film Festival (eventive.org)
The short film Fireline highlights the role that prison labor often plays in combating the wildfires that frequently devastate America’s West Coast. Directed by Robin Takao D’Oench, this gripping story follows incarcerated firefighter Otto Reyes—portrayed with quiet intensity by Bobby Soto—who is denied parole and then ordered to battle yet another out-of-control blaze. Throughout his ordeal, Otto clings to his only connection to the outside world: his attempts to reach his daughter by phone. Fireline casts a powerful light on the little-known and controversial practice of using incarcerated individuals in frontline firefighting efforts across the United States.
The Final Copy of Ilon Specht, directed by two-time Oscar® winner Ben Proudfoot, is a moving deathbed account of the unsung advertising genius who coined L’Oréal’s iconic “Because I’m Worth It” slogan in 1971—a four-word feminist manifesto that, against all odds, transformed the world of advertising forever.
With Love, Charlie is a timely and poignant short film about the human cost of war on those compelled to fight. Jae, a South Korean fluent in English, is forcibly conscripted into the North Korean army for his rare skill as an interpreter. Half a world away, Charlie is one of 1.5 million Americans drafted to fight in the Korean War against communism. Their paths converge on the battlefield in a fateful and life-altering encounter. With conflicts still raging across the globe, Jaren Hayman’s short skillfully underscores a sobering truth: long after the guns fall silent, the consequences of war continue to echo in the lives of those who fought.
Special Delivery is a hilarious and unexpectedly heartfelt short about a foley artist for pornography who takes her work extremely seriously—until everything changes when an actor shows up at her doorstep for a vocal dubbing session. As their relationship develops, the film cleverly points out that most pornography lacks emotional depth, highlighting the disconnect between physicality and genuine feeling. In Special Delivery, the real passion lies not in the work the characters produce, but in simply watching the two of them fall in love.
Director: Emily Everhard
My personal favourite is An Angel on Oxford Street, a beautifully animated short narrated by former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston, scripted by acclaimed writer Geoff Thompson, and directed by Paul Shammasian. The film tells the story of a chance encounter between a northerner visiting London for a job interview and a homeless man living on the city’s streets. Warned by his mother that he would find evil in the capital, he instead discovers something entirely unexpected. The encounter changes his life forever. An Angel on Oxford Street is a poignant commentary on Britain’s current social landscape.
The HollyShorts Film Festival masterfully demonstrates that, in cinema, less can often be more.
2 Trailers
The final Copy of Ilon Specht
With Love, Charlie
Beverly Andrews is an African American playwright, director, documentary filmmaker and performer. A recipient of the 2017 Roland Rees playwright’s bursary and shortlisted twice for the Alfred Fagon award. Writer and producer of film/theatre hybrid Sophia, screened at several international film festivals, winning two international awards. Sophia was originally recorded as an audio podcast and is available on Spotify as part of the Forgotten Women podcasts. Her play about Afghanistan called Annawon’s Song, made the shortlist of the Sundance Institute’s theatre lab and premiered at London’s 2019 Vault festival and was runner up for most anticipated production of the festival. Her play Love Bites premiered in New York’s Dream Up festival. Awa’s Journey, funded by the Arts Council of England, was choosen by renown artist and twice Turner prize nominee, Yinka Shonibare as a guest project. Beverly is the director of the documentary “I am Going to Make a Miracle” which has won three international awards and was bought by Sky Arts in New Zealand. Beverly is also alumni of two Sundance Institute’s collab film directing courses and is a former immersive artist in residence to Britten Pears Arts, through the European Network of Opera Academies. And has written her first libretto for the opera, Water, the play version of Water recently premiered at the Royal Thimpu College in Bhutan. Her first short story Bricktop has been recently published in the literary magazine, Fleas on the Dog and her short story about Ukraine has been published in 100 Subtexts magazine. She is also a contributing journalist to FORMIdea and a past contributor to NewAfrican magazine, The Middle East magazine and Inter Press Services.
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