Hi hello hi! I got busy and then sick and then busy again and procrastinated on this a whole bunch. Then I wrote it and forgot to post it, so here it is nearly a month after I actually watched the films!

I rewatched several of the past programs' films with a friend, and then continued with the last couple films I had left of the entire festival:


Short Film Program 3

Viaje de Negocios dir. Gerardo Coello Escalante

Daniel arrives at school wearing brand-new sneakers from America, gifted to him by his father. When he sees another boy wearing the same sneakers, he begins to suspect that their shoes are the key to a terrible secret.

This child actor is amazing. The short felt like it was just about to get started when it ended, but the story itself had layers - most of which my friend got long before I did.

guts dir. Margaux Susi

Desperate for help, a woman in recovery asks an unlikely stranger on a dinner date.

I got very distracted as I know one of these actors from Starkid! I think the little flips of understanding as it unfolded are lovely, and this film is honestly close in scope to what I am trying to make these days, so it served as a great example.

Dreams like paper boats dir. Samuel Suffren

Edouard and his daughter live with a cassette received from his wife in the United States, a long time ago. After years of absence, what can we expect from a distant love?

The visuals are beautiful, but I didn't find myself sticking with this one very closely. The dreamlike quality is something that I'd be interested in exploring more though.

BUST dir. Angalis Field

A trans cop with the New York City Police Department goes undercover to make a drug bust.

This film... felt invasive. It was terrifying and grotesque to have a cop in a space that I very distinctly recognize (meaning, a trans person's room/apartment), without the other character's knowledge. I found this film deeply threatening.

On a related note, a couple weeks after the festival I went to a local film mixer. At the mixer I met someone who went to Sundance in person, and she had seen BUST. She loved it. My assumption/understanding is that she is cis... and I don't think how absolutely terrifying it was hit her. It was a very rigid moment for me internally, as she was effusively positive about trans people, but... didn't seem to understand how this film was scary. Just was talking about how gorgeous the lead actress is and meeting the filmmaker. Every once in a while I run into someone who is So cis and I forget that I surround myself with trans people... Another woman at the table at one point called cis women "real women" - not even in a hateful way, rather in a not-understanding why that's awful way and reaching for language - and I gently steered away from the topic. I pushed a little, but I didn't want to be mean. It was a bit exhausting.

Salone Love dir. Tajana Tokyo

A scrapbook of opinions and advice about love in Sierra Leone.

Flail dir. Ben Gauthier

It's her boss's birthday, and Allie is trying as hard as she can.

YEAH. LOVE the overwhelm on this one. It is so constant and miserable and hilarious and I think it's incredibly well done. I find it really really interesting how so many of the films this year are focused on the airhorn blast muffle of social media and constant tech invasion into our lives (as well as grief). This was fantastic, and bombastic.

Bye Bye, Bowser dir. Jasmin Baumgartner

Punk singer Luna rebels against the indifference of her artsy friends by writing a song about Laugo, the construction worker from across the street. The collision of the worlds of affluent neglect and everyday work leads to a dramatic downfall.

Frankly, I didn't finish this one. It didn't grab me and since it was on the longer side I decided to prioritize other films before the festival ended.

Award Winner Short Film Program

This featured a whole bunch I already watched - Pisko the Crab Child is in Love, Bug’s Diner, The Stag, The Masterpiece - but I didn't rewatch anything.

The Looming dir. Masha Ko

When a virtual home assistant speaker, Luna, picks up the strange noise Chester has heard in his house, he realizes that it may not be a symptom of dementia.

This was almost something I liked. I think one more pass on the honing in would have done it for me, but as it stands now it just made me very sad. I see stories like this, with elderly people isolated and handed technology that isn't designed for them, and think of my close family friends who are quite old, who I set up their new phones for, who get dropped off at random locations if they attempt an Uber because no one explained how it worked. It makes me deeply, viscerally angry and sad. I don't think what we do to old people is fair or right or just or moral; it's reprehensible. It's funny, sometimes the films I'm 'eh' on can still be the films that spur me ahead.

Bob's Funeral dir. Jack Dunphy

Searching for the root of generational trauma, the director takes a camera into his estranged grandfather’s funeral.

This film made me sob. (Admittedly, as most parents-sick-or-dying stories do.) I didn't click with the documentary program last year, so I skipped it, but I'm so glad this was included in the award program. The extreme candor and forwardness of the presentation and questions asked by the filmmaker were deeply engaging and refreshing. His handle on storytelling and revisiting earlier points to enforce and refresh them after the audience had new knowledge was laudable. It was an incredibly impressive piece of narrative nonfiction, and I'm so glad I saw it.

Say Hi After You Die dir. Kate Jean Hollowell

A grieving woman believes her deceased best friend has come back to visit her… as a porta-potty.

And to close us out! Another one that made me cry. I think a lot about grief these days. It seems like many of the filmmakers chosen this year do too. I love that this film captures the absurd, the insightful, the hilarious, the heartbreaking, and the mundane pieces of grief, especially since it is in a very very silly framework. A wonderful closer to a really spectacular festival year.


Some of the films I enjoyed the most include (in reverse watch order):

The ones with stars are my top picks!


Hurrah for the Sundance Shorts Explorer Pass!