Now in the back half of this year’s festival, it’s time to see what else this year’s festivities has in store for us. Today’s screenings will have some amazing genres in store, including Golden Age, Social Impact, Documentaries, Cinematography and Movies on Movies. Those able to see them in person can find tickets for the showings at the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, and those looking to see it online can find them after the screenings on BitPix.
Golden Age
Viewfinder – Adam Byrnes’ film stars Helen Duffy, Brendan Gleave and Alice Walker, and focuses on Ruth (Duffy), an older woman who just lost her husband. While clearing out his things, Ruth’s grandson Kyle (Gleave) finds an old Viewfinder camera, allowing Ruth to see herself in a new light through the photos he takes, the photographer in her able to see the new perspective and find the joy in the art form again. It’s a heartwarming film that shows the human resilience and how a change in perspective can do a lot of good.
Social Impact
My Plastic Mother – Amar Haikal’s documentary focuses on the children in a small Indonesian village, looking through the landfill for a memento of his mother for a classroom show and tell. Unfortunately, the environment round him threatens to thwart his search, with weather, scavengers and the ever growing waste potentially making it impossible for him to find something to show off.
Documentary II
Boys Of Summer – Annabel Edwards and Mito Habe-Evans direct this short film set at a boys summer camp, where those without a huge social circle back home can find a new group of friends, learn new skills and find more about themselves. The documentary talks to the counselors and the campers, delving into the way that bonds are built during these camp retreats, building relationships that will last for a lifetime.
Cinematography
The Kalgan Horse – Zichen Zhao directs this film that was co-written with Yue Zhang about a young boy named Amu (Yang Yang) develops a bond with a horse that his father owns and keeps for farming and herding. With the male horses needing to be castrated, both to curb their aggression and as a delicacy, Amu has to understand the reason for this brutal act as he tries to protect the animal he’s comes to care for. It’s a hard story about the lessons learned in childhood and how somethings, no matter how difficult, might be necessary.
Movies On Movies
Method Cowboy – Carlos Valdivia brings us a great film that he writes and directs about a straight man looking for the role of a lifetime in a queer western film that is sure to leave Oscar voters salivating. The only problem is that the director wants to be authentic and cast a gay actor in the role, leaving Johnny (Jonathan Holdforth) to pursue being gay to ensure he gets the role. This blurring of lines is a great exploration of being queer and finding who you are in whatever way you do, performance and his true self blending as he attempts to get the thing he desires most.
Additionally, Carlos Valdivia was kind enough to spend some time talking to us! Please enjoy our interview with him!
What inspired you to make films?
Since I was young, I’ve been obsessed with cinema. As a kid, I loved watching people’s reactions while they watched films: the squirms, the laughs, the tears, all of it. I came to see cinema as one of the most powerful forms of storytelling, because it allows us to articulate unspoken truths and emotions about ourselves and each other. And, honestly, making films is genuinely so fun. Yes, it’s hard work, but there’s something incredibly joyful about getting to play, experiment, and create with a team of amazing people.
What message were you trying to communicate with this film?
With Method Cowboy, I wanted to tackle one of the most contentious debates in film and television: should straight actors play gay roles? Rather than provide an easy answer, I wanted to grapple with the idea of authenticity itself, especially in an era of increasingly fluid sexual identities and expressions. I also wanted to push some of the logic of online debates to an absurd conclusion: what if a straight actor decided that the only way to authentically play a gay man was to actually become gay for the role? In doing so, we take the audience on a wild and very uncomfortable journey. Ultimately, the film is not just about performance and authenticity, but also about how unstable the categories we use to define ourselves can become.
What kind of challenges did you face when making this film?
Making an ambitious film on a short film budget is always challenging. We had multiple locations over a three day shoot including one overnight. We also lost one of our locations two days before the shoot. Luckily I had an amazing team of producers who quickly found a replacement location and my DP and Production Designer were able to make quick adjustments for our new location.
How does it feel to be a part of this year’s HollyShorts?
I am both very excited and honored. I was born and raised in LA, so I am excited to have my hometown premiere at HollyShorts. It’s such an incredible festival for short filmmakers, and I’m really excited to share Method Cowboy with both the local audiences and the amazing filmmakers at the fest.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing my first feature right now, which is a feature-length version of Method Cowboy. It’s been really exciting to take the ideas and characters from the short and see how they can evolve on a larger scale. In the more immediate future, I’m also continuing Method Cowboy’s festival run. We have a few more festivals coming up this fall, which I’m very excited about!
That’ll do it for Day 7! Be sure to check back tomorrow for more coverage of the 22nd Annual HollyShorts Film Festival!
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