Tea has qualified to be considered for the 2025 Oscars, it is directed by Blake Rice.

Sat outside in front of a camcorder, a lonely young Circuit-Shack employee is rehearsing his lines to ask out the girl of his dreams, when a sudden hornet sting throws everything into chaos.

Blake Rice’s TEA is a brilliant coming-of-age comedy that perfectly encapsulates the clumsiness of attempting to seek connection and how things never work out the way you planned. It’s a simple concept but executed with razor sharpness and irresistible charm.

Michael Gandolfini gives a terrific lead performance, awkward but endearing, while Olivia Nikkanen is equally brilliant as his hesitant rescuer that’s thrown into a set of circumstances that neither is equipped for. Their meeting is sweet, ungainly and hilarious, provoked by the initial misunderstanding of the situation they find themselves in. And it only gets messier from there as the allergic reaction from the sting worsens and the consequences become graver.

The short is beautifully designed and has a lovely nostalgic look about it that’s helped by the amazing cinematography from Matheus Bastos that captures 90s America to a tee.

TEA can be simplified to a story about two beings who find connection in unlikely circumstances, but behind the drama, there’s a delightful message about the unpredictability of life and how things can’t be fully planned no matter how much we rehearse.