Shortlisted BAFTA Short Films (Part 1)

The Birth Of Valerie Venus ()

Director: Sarah Clift. Cast: Jane Guernier, Paul Hunter, Mohd Aslam 

A rather frustrated, lonely and long suffering vicar’s wife suffers a little accident which cleaning a statue of the Virgin Mary as a result of that her had becomes “possessed” for lack of a better term and begins to have a life of its own, with strange and supposedly funny consequences. Well, I have to say, not only I did not laugh once (the timing of the comedy seems to be off most of the time and every single scene goes on for twice as long as it should), but also the filming of it seemed to be very student-like and quite pedestrian. Very disappointing.

---

Dad Was ()

Director: Barnaby Blackburn. Cast: Cameron Kerr, Seylan Baxter, Nicholas Ellard, Paul Ellard 

The story of young boy somewhere in Scotland who is to give a eulogy at his father’s funeral… It is a heartfelt, beautiful and gentle piece with an unexpected twist at the end which makes everything even more weighty. This is the best kind of short film I can think of: simple, direct and which will stay with you long after they’re over. The little 8 years old boy, Cameron Kerr is wonderful. The pain and grief clearly visible in his eyes and felt in his voice. Beautifully photographed too with its black & white sepia(ish) look matching the mood of the entire piece. You can watch it here.

---

Dọlápọ̀ Is Fine ()

Director: Ethosheia Hylton. Cast: Doyin Ajiboye, Luke Gasper, Joan Iyiola 

A young Black woman facing pressure to change her name and natural hairstyle as she prepares to enter the working world after school. While this story might be very recognisable to many black girls and it’s certainly not something to laugh about, I found it very forced, full of stereotypes and rather clumsy. I appreciated the effort and some of the filming, but on the whole I found it rather weak. Gina McKee’s final cameo redeems it slightly, but not enough to make it worthwhile for me. On Netflix

---

Eyelash ()

Director: Jesse Lewis-Reece. Cast: Elijah W Harris, Ishtar Currie-Wilson, Frankie Stew

A powerful adaptation of spoken word poet Neil Hilborn’s poem ‘OCD’ (You really get the full scale of the achievement of this short film once you see the original material). The film turns the spoken words of this sad love story into pictures as if it was the most natural thing in the world. A simple but effective adaptation dealing with mental health and breakups. You can watch it here.

---

Tic Toc ()

Director: Mark Waters. Cast: Felix Sanderson, Mike Brompton, Joel Clark

Powerful and affecting short documentary about 16 years old Felix who has Tourette’s Disorder, a condition that affects his brain and nerves and causes him to make uncontrollable movements, tics, sounds and screamsThe film lets him take centre stage as he shares his story to try to break the stigma that his illness carries with it. “The worst feeling in the entire world is not being able to control it” Felix says at one point. There’s a disarming honesty about the piece as the camera gets really close to his handsome face as he confesses “people come to me and tell me “Shut the fuck up”…. He pause… smiles “I would if I could”… then his smile drops and in that moment of silence it’s as if a thousand words are said.“I just feel very pissed off, very agitated… I feel so much anger… but all I’m trying to do is to raise awareness… Because when they tell me to shut the fuck off, it makes my day 10 times worse than it already is. “Here’s the trailer