Hybrids: a hybrid short film of too many cliches and stereotypes
Patrick Kalyn, “Hybrids” (2013) This sci-fi live action short seems to have been made as a proof-of-concept film to promote an idea for a television series…
nausika
Pain and Glory: a self-referential film of an artist entering a winter of discontent
Pedro Almodovar, “Pain and Glory” (2019) A film investigating how creation can be inspired by personal memories and suffering, “Pain and Glory” is a fiction biographical…
Farming: fictional biographical drama ignores its wider social context
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, “Farming” (2018) “Farming” is a fictional biographical drama based on actor / director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s childhood growing up in Britain as a foster child…
The Kid: minimalist proof-of-concept short that raises intriguing questions about its themes and issues
Nicholas Wenger, “The Kid” (2018) “The Kid” is a six-minute proof-of-concept film made to demonstrate the potential of certain themes and issues that a longer and…
British Films, North American Films
Official Secrets: a modest fictional dramatisation of a whistleblower’s ordeal
Gavin Hood, “Official Secrets” (2019) As fictional dramatisations of real events go, “Official Secrets” passes muster in its narrative of a translator working for the British…
Arabic-language Films, North American Films
Seam: an action thriller SF allegory of societies under siege from government and global oppression
Elan Dassani, Rajeev Dassani, “Seam” (2017) An excellent little film that could serve as a pilot for a television series, “Seam” posits that in the near…
French and French-language Films
Royal Madness: a fun cartoon on finding a new purpose in life
Mriganka Bhuyan, Romain Couderette, Eunbyeol Ko, Sean Lewis, Milan Salmona, Wenkai Wang, “Royal Madness” (2019) Not one of the better offerings from the 2019 Gobelins graduation…
Custom Order: a thin plot and equally thin characters in a story on commodifying identity
Will Lowell, “Custom Order” (2017) Looks like I hit a dud sci-fi short for once on the DUST channel with Will Lowell’s “Custom Order”. For a…
Australian and New Zealand Films
Colony: a stereotyped sci-fi horror treatment of colonisation and possession
Catherine Bonny, “Colony” (2018) Partly informed by the history of early European settlement in Australia, as well as perhaps stories of the treatment of prisoners in…
They Watch: a dystopian sci-fi film of the oppressed being used to oppress others
Andre LeBlanc, “They Watch” (2016) In the near future, a mother and her teenage son living in small-town America are under siege from an oppressive police-state…