Day 7 of the 21st Annual HollyShorts film festival is here, and with it comes another slate of excellent films. With five categories for today; Golden Age, Indeed’s Rising Voices Season 5, Documentary, Dark Comedy and Web Series, that will all be sure to have films among the favorites of the festival. Though there’s not that many days left in the festival what we have left in store will be among the best, and several will likely be taking home awards. Be sure to check out today’s recap, as well as our interview with today’s highlighted filmmaker, Josh Dietz, whose film Supper is a strange, wild and incredible film. Tickets for the last few days of the festival can be found here, with the films streaming on BitPix shortly after the films screen.
GOLDEN AGE
Beatrix Is Invisible – Written and directed by Alex Farias, this film stars Ellen Greene as the titular character, an older woman who feels rudderless and insignificant in her life. After looking towards religion to cement her own impact in the eyes of God and not finding what she was after, Beatrix steps out of her comfort zone in an attempt to find her place in the world. It’s a touching and somber film, but one that leaves the viewer with a sense of hope, seeing a person still trying to find their way later in life, and making changes in her routines to feel like she has a place again. It’s beautifully shot, and the music is a perfect compliment to the tone and story of the film.
INDEED PRESENTS RISING VOICES SEASON 5
Haint – Jahmil Eady brings cultural roots into the festival, telling a tense and gripping horror tale focusing on the legends of the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of Africa who were brought over to America during the slave trade and settling in southern coastal plantations, putting down roots in the area while maintaining pieces of their cultural heritage. The story itself focuses on a handywoman from that culture, Annabelle, who discovers that an African vengeful spirit called a Haint has infiltrated the rapidly gentrifying place she lives. Despite her losing her own home to gentrification, Annabelle (Melanie Nicholls-King) has to decide if using her knowledge of the creature, derived from her culture, is worth it, or leaving the people who took her home to their fate. A cultural blind spot for many, learning more about the Gullah Geechee and their culture makes this a fascinating watch, with the respect and reverence for it apparent in the film.
DOCUMENTARY II
Kopala – Snowboarder Krister Kopala is the subject of this film as he goes on a journey not only to the dangerous Kvænangen mountain range in Norway, but the journey of his life, motivations and experiences that lead him to what he does. His trauma, his childhood and his family are the biggest pieces of his trek down the path of life he’s chosen, and this introspective film by Hugh Francis Anderson and Vetle Sevild is a beautiful adventure into the life of Kopala, told through his own words and home video of Krister and his family.
DARK COMEDY
Supper – Joshua Ryan Dietz delivers on one of the most tense and ludicrous films of the festival with their contribution, which focuses on a family birthday dinner where all members are absolutely insane in new and disturbing ways. Andrew Perez is the focus as Calvin, whose family has come over for his birthday to give him some news: he’s kicked out of the family because he’s a bummer and no one likes him. The escalation from there is impossible to describe, as his brother Ryan (Sam Rechner) and sister Jackie (Aleksa Palladino) reveal more about more about this astonishing family dynamic as mother Mary (Dale Dickey) mostly just exists, mostly in silent resignation. This is one of the weirdest, most delightfully unhinged films I’ve seen in years, if not ever. It’s an absolute must-see.
WEB SERIES
Daisy – Audrey Cymone stars in this Niki Koss web series that sees Daisy, a traumatized 12 year-old girl go on the hunt for a meth dealer who harmed her mother and, in her eyes, took her childhood. Bent on revenge, Daisy is now through being a victim and is now looking to inflict her own punishment. It’s a very interesting action web series, taking from action thrillers and adding a few twists onto the genre. Cymone is great, especially in the voiceover narration, which is wonderfully written and feels like an impressive lynchpin for the series.
That wraps up day 7, but doesn’t wrap up today’s coverage! A big shoutout to today’s highlighted filmmaker, Josh Dietz, for their time in today’s interview.
What inspired you to make films?
I was raised by a powerful, beautiful single mother. Our family was a movie family. Friday nights were for going to your local movie rental spot, grabbing like three movies, and watching all of them. So very early on, storytelling became very important to me, and I was definitely watching things I probably shouldn’t have been, but these films lit a fire. I was definitely the weird, quiet kid that was terrified of everything, and I think writing helped me understand life a bit better.
What message were you trying to communicate with this film?
I really love finding that thin line between tragedy and comedy and seeing how far you can simultaneously amplify those two elements within a story. For me, I’m always raging against some machine in everything I do, and I’m definitely angstily making commentary with Supper. I don’t think our allegory is cleverly subtle. It feels fairly front and center. We’re taking a few jabs at religion with this one and exploring the potentially tragic side of holding faith in a higher power.
What kind of challenges did you face when making this film?
I had just gotten laid off a few months before we shot this short. It now represents this big chapter shift in my career of finding myself as a storyteller again and really getting something on the screen that felt like me. I aggressively attacked my bank account to make this film, so because of that, time was a big challenge in this. It’s a 20 minute dinner scene with a lot of dialogue and we had three days to nail it. So, we moved at a very fast pace, and we’re shooting out of order, so you’re balancing these really big emotional swings with the actors while also being very aware that we only have a few takes with each shot. We’d be in a very heavy moment, then we’d cut, and it’s back to one of the early moments that’s very funny, but the team was incredible. If it wasn’t for these actors, this crew, and our team coming prepared and moving so quickly, we wouldn’t have made our days.
How does it feel to be a part of this year’s HollyShorts?
I mean — we’re getting to play at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood alongside great films that thousands of people put themselves on the line for — it’s really hard to not love that and be excited by it. I’m hoping we’re the weirdest film in the lineup and very much appreciate HollyShorts giving our messed up family a screen.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing a lot and currently packaging my first feature film to direct. We’ll continue raging against different machines and trying to start conversations. Our next film is definitely pushing the envelope and taking a bold swing at something that’s really a rot in life and a big problem we’re not talking about. We’re very excited by it and are locking in our casting now, then we’ll take it out for financing (call me A24!). I’m looking forward to announcing it soon. We’re here to push some buttons with it.
That’ll take care of things for today! Be sure to check back for more with our continuing coverage of the 21st Annual HollyShorts Film Festival!
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