It’s day seven of the 20th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival, and while it’s hard to imagine that it’s been a week already, what a week it’s been. To round out the first calendar week of screenings, we have selections from Coming Of Age, the Indeed Rising Voices series, which celebrates season 4 with these entries, Drama, Dark Comedy and Web Series. It will also feature an interview with Robert Machoian, writer/director of I Can’t Be Sorry! For those looking to attend the final days of the festival, please check out the ticket link here! And as always, the films will be available on BitPix shortly after the screening. Be sure to check back in tomorrow for more, and let’s get into today’s highlights.
COMING OF AGE
Loser – Colleen McGuinness’ short stars Angourie Rice as Alice, a 22 year-old young woman who is kind of going nowhere in life. Working a dead end job at a frozen yogurt shop, she reflects on her life, her decisions, what’s led her here and what her mother, who has since passed, would think of her life. That all changes for her when there’s an act of violence at her workplace, with two of her co-workers killed and her the only survivor. This tragic event is the impending catalyst for her life, a horrific event that she swears will lead her on a better path. It’s a film that starts kind of sweet, with the identity crisis that most young people go through, and takes a sharp turn, but one that’s happened many times before, when a life-changing event realigns a person’s values and leads them towards life change.
INDEED RISING VOICES SEASON 4
Meal Ticket – Wes Andre Goodrich, who directed and co-wrote the film with Patrick Nichols, tells the story of Saint (Siddiq Saunderson), the manager of a rising star in the world of hip-hop. Knowing that things are in a precarious position, Saint has to make a tough call when he finds out potentially news that could potentially alter his client’s life, news he discovers with just over ten minutes before the artist needs to be onstage. Saunderson is really fantastic in this, adding a frantic emotion and relatable pathos that would come from a tense and nearly impossible situation like this.
DRAMA
I Can’t Be Sorry – Lauren Cohan, Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Mackenzie Mazur star in this powerful short film that has a personal touch, with the premise having a close relation to director and co-writer Robert Machoian’s life. In the film, we see a woman (Cohan) waiting at a diner to meet someone she’s wanted to meet for a very long time, as she waits for the now grown-up child she gave away for adoption earlier in her life. This meeting has one of the realest feels of anything I’ve seen in awhile; it’s awkward at points, difficult throughout, and doesn’t resolve cleanly, all things that really help ground it to life experience. These kinds of decisions are some of the most difficult that could ever be made, and this is displayed so well in the film, and by the cast.
DARK COMEDY
Say Hi After You Die – Kate Hollowell and Ruby Caster co-write and co-star in this film, which was directed by Hollowell and also stars George Basil. It sees Hollowell dealing with massive loss of her best friend, who dies in an accident just moments after the two of them depart from meeting up in a diner. After admitting that if she was reincarnated, the best friend (Caster) would return as a portable toilet, Hollowell’s character sees one show up at a mysterious construction site near her home, taking it as a sign that her friend did indeed return in her own way. It’s a heartwarming, weird and hilarious film that is a bit eccentric, but well worth every moment.
WEB SERIES
I Hate People, People Hate Me – The pilot episode of this web series is an interesting look into the lives of two best friends as they try to navigate the world of Toronto’s queer social scene, as well as just life in general. Embracing an It Follows type of time-distortion (a character has an OnlyFans while every website looks like it’s from 1996), the series follows Jovi (series creators Bobbi Summers) and Tabitha (Lily Kazimiera) as they deal with roommates, more famous gay acquaintances, and the worship of late 90’s queer icon Bif Naked. It’s weird, it’s funny, and it’s an opening episode that definitely leaves you wanting more.
That’s it for Day 7! We’ve only got a few days to go, but we’ll be here covering the festival for its entirety, so be sure to come back tomorrow for ever more highlights and interviews from the 20th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival! Additionally, here’s an interview with I Can’t Be Sorry filmmaker Robert Machoian!
What inspired you to start making films?
I was in my mid twenties, married with a daughter working a heavy labor job. We had bought a camera to film my daughter’s birth, and I hadn’t really used it since. She was three and I decided to make a little doc on her. I shot over a few days, edited in iMovie for two weeks, when it was done I realized I could see myself doing this forever.
What were the challenges in making this project?
This short was based on a decision my sister made almost thirty years ago. It was a very personal decision, and a difficult one. The challenge was taking the story, that is emotional and internal, and putting that into a cinematic experience.
Is there any type of message or emotion that you hope the viewer takes away from watching this film?
Just that in life we all have to make hard decisions, that in a way define us, but are not all that we are. If those decisions were made with good intentions, sometimes you get to experience the fruits of it.
How does it feel to be able to screen the film at HollyShorts?
I love Hollyshorts, it’s a huge honor to be screening my film here!
What’s on the horizon for you?
I just finished another short film I collaborated with choreographer, and director Keely Song, so I’ll start submitting that around. I am also developing a feature, so this will be a year of writing.
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