FIVE SHORTS THAT HAD OUR HEARTS AT REELWORLD

Reelworld Film Festival shows much heart in their short films program.

It’s been a crazy and difficult year for all of us who inhabit this planet but much kudos has to goto to Tonya Williams and her staff for curating the short film program to show that there are still many fine things in life to appreciate.  We begin this shortlist with director Alison Duke who continues to rise above expectations with her short film Promise Me screened this year at Reelworld Film Festival.  The film focuses on a young girl named Charlie Thomas, played by Breonna Morrison, who is missing school because she is taking care of her sick mother Yolanda, played by Olunike Adeliyi, who is suffering from HIV.  Unable to take care of her daughter, Charlie begins to be her caregiver but the school board notices her absences.  Decisions are being made without both Charlie and Yolanda knowing the outcome but they both strive to rely on their fond memories together when everything was right.  Promise Me is a heartbreaking tearjerker of a film that shows the reality of sickness.

Marianna Phung in Cranberry Flirt

Director and lead actress Marianna Phung who plays Linh in Cranberry Flirt had to be one of the most charming short films at the Reelworld Film Festival.  A young white man named Greg, played by Jordan Duarte, walks into a nail salon hoping to get a pedicure.  Linh tells him to come back in an hour because they are not open but her Vietnamese mother Mai, played by Tan Huynh, says that everything is alright for him to come in as she sees an opportunity for her daughter to hook up.  Cranberry Flirt will have the audience on the floor with its funny and witty dialogue that comments on interracial dating and family pressure.  Marianna Phung nails it in this film.  No pun intended.

(Left) Mark Taylor as Blair in To Kill A Secret

Director Jevon Boreland‘s To Kill A Secret will have your heart doing other things unexpectedly.  The short film focuses on a group of friends who want to take out their friend Steven to a bachelor party on the night before his wedding.  Steven decides not to as he wants to be in full form for his wedding but his friends have something else planned for him instead.  To Kill A Secret is a film that will have your heart drop and pound at the same time.  There is no question that we here on FERNTV will look forward to the future works of director Jevon Boreland.

(Left) Rosina Ferede as Kalthoum in The Sky is Blue, Kalthoum

Oromo director Darani Urgessa‘s short film The Sky is Blue, Kalthoum shows the hardships of young people trying to fit in and the idea of self-acceptance.  Kalthoum, played by Rosina Ferede, confronts a group of teenagers at the park who try to climb a soccer net so they can see their world from above.  Kalthoum decides to help the crew as they all step on her back to climb the net.  At the end of it all, they can’t even help her get up to where they are sitting as they laugh at her face.  Kalthoum then goes on home to gets a lesson taught to her by her mother as Kalthoum realizes that she just has to be who she is to fit in.  Our heart goes out to the character of Kalthoum as she accepts her reality as growing up is difficult to do.

Jordan in The Onyx Butterfly

Jordan is a black male ballet dancer who is struggling in a white female-dominated landscape in the short film The Onyx Butterfly.  Director Yasmin Evering-Kerr centers this short film on Jordan who is defying the odds and changing the narrative of what it means to be a masculine black man.  This audience will feel the joy that Jordan goes through being successful in the world of ballet but the pain he feels that society puts on him because of its feminine characteristics.  One of the most outstanding moments in the film is when his father is having a heart to heart with his son and discussing his reality in which the scene speaks to us all.  It should not matter where your passion lies but it so sad that we live in a world where it is quickly judged upon and that’s heartbreaking.