Short Film Program 1 (Highlights)

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and diversity of the short films selected for this program. That’s not to say that I expected any poorly made films, it’s just that the odds of seven films in a row, several of them being student films, being excellent are not excessively high and you really never know what you’re in for. While they were all enjoyable, there were several that really stood out to me.

A Day’s Work (Rahjeev Dassani, 2008) USA
A Day’s Work is about an immigrant day laborer named Enrique (Luis Chavez) who has been trying to earn enough money to bring his family to the United States. Enrique and two other workers are selected by a couple to help them move. While moving, Enrique befriends the couple’s teenage son Zack (Carter Jenkins) through remedial Spanish. Things turn drastically when Zack’s father (Jack Brand) tries to pay the other workers with a check, as day laborers are often ripped off by bad checks. The situation becomes violent and Zack and Enrique are stuck in the middle.

In this short, Dassani explores the fears and struggle of both immigrants to this country as well as the people that employ them. as the situation grows more and more intense, the mistrust and prejudices of both sides boil over with aid of a language barrier which bars a peaceful solution.

Forward (Cecily Rhett, 2007) USA
Forward is a film about breakups. Otto (Nick Offerman) is a civil war re-enactor whose wife has just divorced him for another man. Anna (Amy Ryan) is waitress in a German-themed restaurant. She has also just split up with her significant other. We view the breakups and results of the breakup interspersed with glimpses of a re-enactment of the largest breakup in our nations history, The Civil War. Otto misses his bus to another re-enactment, and Anna just happens to be in the right place at the right time. They embark on a road trip that seems to help both of them reach a deeper understanding of their current situation, though nothing about their interaction seems the least bit romantic.

New Boy (Stephanie Green, 2007) Ireland
Written and directed by Stephanie Green and based on a short story by Roddy Doyle, this hilarious and touching short film gives a look back at what it was like to be the new kid in school. Joseph (Olutunji Ebun-Cole) is a new student from Africa, though we don’t get much in the way of dialogue from him, we get flashbacks into his heart warming and tragic past. Christian (Simon O’Driscoll) and his friends bully Joseph for no reason other than that he is the new boy. Hazel O’hara (Sinead Maguire) is the tattle-taling teachers pet, who takes a liking to Joseph right from the start. Can the new boy and the old boys overcome their differences for any reason?