Coming of Age Shorts Program
The State of Sunshine
Director: Z. Eric Yang
A dark film that follows two illegal immigrant siblings who are forced to engage in prostitution to pay the huge debt owed to their smugglers. The brother acts as a pimp for his sister, though both hate what they are being forced to do. When the sister begins to dream of a way out and fleeing to start over in a new place, the brother at first crushes her hopes. He eventually comes around, but it may be too late. The story is predictable, but intense and captivating and based loosely on a true story. It is well shot, though dark, but that fits the theme.
Blue Dress
Director: Katie Stern
Hadley, a 12 year old girl left alone for the first time when her beloved big brother goes off to camp, turns a summer stuck bored with her parents into a summer of self-discovery when the impressionable girl makes a wild new friend. The children’s characters ring so true that you fear for them and their choices. Though the adults, not so much, as they seem to keep no real record of where their 12 year old daughter is at any given time. A solid story though.
Director: John Henry Summerour
This short was filmed as a teaser to gain financing for a longer movie and that is pretty much how it feels, more like a teaser than a full tale. However, it serves its purpose in that you now definitely want to see the full story. Through the eyes of an innocent rural Georgia teenager experiencing the first blush of his first crush, we stumble upon a horrible secret when he discovers the body of a man that was supposed to be cremated (the father of said crush) in the woods. Through this boy’s eyes we get a glimpse of a tragic tale based on a true story that received nationwide coverage of a north Georgia crematorium operator who charged with respectful disposal of loved ones remains betrayed hundreds of families by merely dumping them. It was a horrifyingly shocking story at the time and should make for an intense, thrilling, emotional rollercoaster of a film.
The Truth About Faces
Director: Lindsey Shockley
An overprotective mother and her daughter are cheerfully shopping for graduation. At first you think maybe it is for high school graduation with the mother so involved in picking out the girl’s clothes and the daughter still living at home. Then you realize that she is the woman’s only daughter and it is her college graduation after which she is leaving for a dig in Africa and you think, okay they are too bonded and it’s time the mother let the daughter grow up. Then when you find out that the girl is actually the mother’s only surviving daughter, things begin to get clearer. This story peels back layer after layer, showing you what really lies under the surface of normal. It and the characters and the subtle performances in it are all very good.
Small Avalanches
Director: Gillian Munro
Based on a short story by award winning author Joyce Carol Oates, this film introduces us to 13-year-old Nancy. She’s at that age that scares adults to death, old enough to look almost grown up, old enough to want to be grown up, but young enough to have no clue what that entails and thus be in near constant danger of getting into situations she is not prepared for. When a much older man spots her, she innocently chats with him, and he then follows her on her way home, we are terrified that that is exactly what is about to happen. Nancy eventually senses the threat the man represents as he grows increasingly aggressive about following her no matter how she tries to lose him, leaving the car she won’t get in to walk behind her. Her behavior as she deals with the threat leaves us both scared for her and baffled by her until we begin to realize that maybe she can take care of herself better than both he and we would have believed. “Small Avalanches” is gripping from beginning to end.
Lucy Cruell