Category: Film Review

Film Review, HollyShorts Film Festival, Live action short

REVIEW : The Razor-Sharp CLOUT Offers a Powerful Mirror to Gen-Z’s Obsession With Online Validation

Premiering at the Oscar-qualifying 2025 HollyShorts Film Festival, Jordan Murphy Doidge’s debut short is as haunting as it is heartbreakingly real. In an age where “going viral” can feel like the only metric of worth, CLOUT arrives like a punch to the gut, a bold, provocative short that refuses to flinch as it peers into the emotional wreckage left in the wake of internet obsession. Written and … Continue reading REVIEW : The Razor-Sharp CLOUT Offers a Powerful Mirror to Gen-Z’s Obsession With Online Validation

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Awards Season, Film Festivals, Film Review, Short Film

Film Review: Boyfighter – A Visceral Vision of Legacy and Love by Julia Weisberg Cortés

Screening at the OSCAR-qualifying HollyShorts film festival In Boyfighter, director Julia Weisberg Cortés delivers a lyrical gut-punch, a film that stares unflinchingly into generational trauma while holding space for tenderness, reckoning, and repair. This Oscar-qualified short, premiering at HollyShorts as part of the 2025 Indeed Rising Voices program, marks a defining moment in Cortés’ evolving career. Known for emotionally intimate work grounded in cultural identity, Boyfighter sees her … Continue reading Film Review: Boyfighter – A Visceral Vision of Legacy and Love by Julia Weisberg Cortés

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Film Festivals, Film Review, HollyShorts Film Festival, Live action short, Short Film

HOLLYSHORTS SPOTLIGHT: LARGO – A Child’s Imagination as Resistance in a World That Has Forgotten Him

Salvatore Scarpa and Max Burgoyne-Moore’s LARGO is a film of haunting beauty and unflinching empathy, one that dares to tell the story of displacement not from the vantage point of policy or politics, but from the fragile, determined heart of a child. At just under 20 minutes, LARGO manages to feel emotionally expansive, focusing on what displacement feels like when you’re young, alone and still … Continue reading HOLLYSHORTS SPOTLIGHT: LARGO – A Child’s Imagination as Resistance in a World That Has Forgotten Him

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Film Festivals, Film Review, HollyShorts Film Festival, Live action short, Short Film

HOLLYSHORTS 2025: Freddie Fox’s THE PAINTING & THE STATUE Blends Elegance with Inventive Charm

Freddie Fox’s The Painting & The Statue is a rare kind of short film – elegant and inventive, it manages to feel both intimate and epic at once. Set entirely in one room, yet spanning 250 years, it tells a love story between two pieces of art – a painting and a statue – who are aware of each other’s presence, but unable to connect. … Continue reading HOLLYSHORTS 2025: Freddie Fox’s THE PAINTING & THE STATUE Blends Elegance with Inventive Charm

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Film Festivals, Film Review, HollyShorts Film Festival, Live action short, Short Film

HOLLYSHORTS SPOTLIGHT: Sam Rudykoff’s HALFWAY HAUNTED Flips the Script on Gentrification

In a medium where short films often meander before finding their hook, Sam Rudykoff’s Halfway Haunted grabs your attention immediately, drawing you into a world that feels deeply bizarre yet anchored in familiarity. Rudykoff’s cold open finds Jess (Hannan Younis) alone in a dingy apartment, practicing for a job interview – only to be interrupted by blood dripping from the ceiling and a fridge door … Continue reading HOLLYSHORTS SPOTLIGHT: Sam Rudykoff’s HALFWAY HAUNTED Flips the Script on Gentrification

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