KILORAN BAY REVIEW: MICHAEL BRUCE’S POWERFUL SCOTTISH SHORT CONFRONTS THE NOTION OF ‘HOME’

Michael Bruce’s KILORAN BAY is a concise and emotionally focused musical short that brings together Scottish culture, LGBTQ+ identity and the difficult process of returning to a place associated with a painful past. Written and directed by Bruce, the 13-minute film uses the setting of the Scottish Hebrides and the traditions of a wedding cèilidh to explore shame, longing, self-acceptance and queer joy. The story … Continue reading KILORAN BAY REVIEW: MICHAEL BRUCE’S POWERFUL SCOTTISH SHORT CONFRONTS THE NOTION OF ‘HOME’

RULE, BRITANNIA REVIEW: ANTI-REFUGEE RHETORIC LAID BARE

Max Fisher’s RULE, BRITANNIA is a politically charged short drama that examines patriotism, fear and the human consequences of anti-refugee rhetoric through a sharply constructed story of two brothers whose assumptions are challenged by the very people they set out to confront. Directed by Fisher and co-written by Ayman Alhussein and Greer Ellison, the film follows two patriotic brothers who steal a fishing boat and … Continue reading RULE, BRITANNIA REVIEW: ANTI-REFUGEE RHETORIC LAID BARE

Oscar-Nominated The Singers: Sam Davis on Underdogs, Improvisation and Finding Beauty in Ordinary Rooms

By Rebecca Ford Now streaming globally on Netflix, The Singers is an Oscar-nominated, genre-bending short from two-time Academy Award® nominee Sam A. Davis. Inspired by a nineteenth-century story from Ivan Turgenev, the film reimagines classic literature as a contemporary meditation on connection, artistry and the overlooked voices hiding in plain sight. Set inside a down-at-heel pub filled with downtrodden men, The Singers unfolds around an impromptu sing-off that gradually dissolves emotional barriers. … Continue reading Oscar-Nominated The Singers: Sam Davis on Underdogs, Improvisation and Finding Beauty in Ordinary Rooms

Oscar Nominated: Tears That Turn to Treasure The Dark Fairytale Beauty of The Girl Who Cried Pearls

The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a darkly lyrical animated short that unfolds like a cautionary fairy tale passed down through generations, its beauty inseparable from its cruelty. Directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the film tells a haunting story of grief and devotion, centred on a young girl whose overwhelming sorrow manifests in an extraordinary and unsettling way. Each tear she sheds becomes … Continue reading Oscar Nominated: Tears That Turn to Treasure The Dark Fairytale Beauty of The Girl Who Cried Pearls

OSCAR CONTENDING DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT – Lauren Melinda on Transforming Personal Grief Into BEFORE YOU

Before You has emerged as one of the most emotionally arresting contenders of the season — an intimate, devastating portrait of a couple navigating the end of a planned pregnancy. The film arrives without spectacle or political framing, instead carrying the soft, unspoken weight of lived experience. It is a work built from silence, color, memory, and the kind of grief that resists public language. In … Continue reading OSCAR CONTENDING DIRECTOR SPOTLIGHT – Lauren Melinda on Transforming Personal Grief Into BEFORE YOU