USA Tag Archive

Live Action

Alec Moeller’s Dark Comedy ‘Empath’ Explores the Tricky Relationship Between Identity and Social Acceptance

Alec Moeller discusses the creation of his darkly comic story of a woman with hyper-empathy syndrome who finds a group that claims to treat her disorder.

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Live Action, Premiere

Samantha Scaffidi’s Drama Short ‘The Things We Left Unsaid’ Sees a Writer Fight for Her Emotional Freedom

Samantha Scaffidi walks DN through the decision of capturing her actors in an intense close-up for her revealing short drama.

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Live Action

Ray Smiling’s ‘Play This At My Funeral’ Extols Our Intimate Connections to the Songs in Our Lives

Ray Smiling describes co-opting the mixtape format to capture the symbiotic link between music and memory for his idiosyncratic series of vignettes.

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Live Action, Premiere

Ramiel Petros’ Touching Student Oscar/BAFTA Drama ‘Aziz’ Takes Three Friends On a Devastating Desert Road Trip

Ramiel Petros details bringing 1980s Iraqi history vividly to life in his mournful, based on a true story short about friendship, war and grief.

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Documentary

Christian Schultz’ Lyrical Documentary ‘Infinite Blue’ Creates a Unique Portrait of Life on the Margins

Christian Schultz & Oscar Ignacio Jiménez discuss the lyrical voiceover and stark monochrome photography behind their intimate depiction of homelessness.

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Music Video

Kimberly Stuckwisch Channels Angel Olsen’s Journey of Self-Discovery in Her Dreamlike Short ‘Big Time’

Kimberly Stuckwisch opens up about the process of collaborating with Angel Olsen throughout the making of their dreamlike LGBTQ album film.

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Art & Fashion

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah Highlights the Vibrancy of Black Stories With Celebratory MTV Branded Short ‘Noitamalcer’

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah explains how she subverted stories of black pain with her vibrant joyous Juneteenth-set branded short.

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A Man's World

Live Action

Jens Josephs’ ‘A Man’s World’ Places Sergio Leone’s Aesthetic Within a Bizarre L.A. Apartment Dispute

Jens Josephs takes us inside the satisfying zippy style, over-emphasised sound design and rapid-fire dialogue of his zany western-comedy hybrid.

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Live Action

The Masked Serial Killer Just Won’t Stay Down in Alex Montilla’s Inventive Comedy Slasher Short ‘Overkill’

Alex Montilla throws light on how he overcame a major technical setback for a pivotal scene mid-production on his inventive self-aware comedy slasher.

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Live Action, Premiere

Gregory Foltynowicz’s Arthouse Film ‘Lachesis’ Piercingly Ponders If We Can Control our Own Future

With Academy Ratio, stark black-and-white images and high-contrast camerawork, Gregory Foltynowicz explores the inevitability of fate.

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Animation

Kenzie Sutton Highlights the Mundanity of Everyday Life in Stop Motion Short ‘Somebody Take the Wheel’

Animator Kenzie Sutton breaks down how she solo managed the lengthy yet rewarding production process of her impressive cyclical stop motion short.

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Live Action, Premiere

Jermaine Manigault’s Experimental Short ‘Not Black Enough’ Cathartically Confronts Blackness in America

Epic long takes, musical pastiche and minimalist music, Jermaine Manigault reveals the tools he used to create a unique portrait of what blackness means.

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