It was the Movies’ big night, and a big night for Shorts too! Doc Shorts even got a rare shoutout during Conan O’Brien’s opening monologue, and at one point the telecast practically ground to a halt thanks to the sheer volume of cheering in the auditorium.

Just a few years ago, the three short film categories were nearly dropped from the broadcast altogether. This year, though, they delivered some of the night’s best moments: a rare piece of Oscar history repeated itself, one winning film’s central subject made a powerful plea on stage, and the filmmakers used their time to share heartfelt messages of hope — and remind us of the power of art to shape a better world.⁠

Congrats to all the nominees, but here are the winners, along with short commentary from S/W co-founder, Jason Sondhi. 

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Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

Winner: The Girl Who Cried Pearls by Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski

Smart money had coalesced around Butterfly, and we chose Retirement Plan in our official prediction post. All this shows how the machinations of award season can obscure more than they clarify, because if you asked us last June what would win, this would have been our pick. It’s a fine choice too—we really like the film—and it’s well deserved that Lavis and Szczerbowski earn their statuettes 19 years after failing to win for Madame Tutli-Putli. The legacy of that short has grown through the years with its continued success online, to the point that it is now unquestionably a modern classic. Congrats to the National Film Board for this win, and here’s hoping The Girl Who Cried Pearls can follow a similar trajectory. 

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Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film

Winner: All the Empty Rooms by Joshua Seftel

Another win for Netflix, and another redemption story, with Seftel earning a statuette in his second try. All the Empty Rooms was our predicted winner and in our minds a worthy one—it’s a tasteful and truly moving film experience, containing a vital message against the normalization of school shootings in America. Accompanied on stage by the mother of Jackie, one of the murdered children whose rooms were photographed in the film, Seftel ceded the mic, and her heartfelt plea ended up being one of the most powerful moments of the evening. 

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Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film

Winner (Tie!): The Singers by Sam Davis & Two People Exchanging Saliva by Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh

Holy moly, history made! Only the 7th tie in Oscar history, and the first since 2012. Pundits were split between the two films, and we were too. Davis has graced the pages of S/W many times, and we featured Musteata and Singh’s film in November. It was hard to choose, and ultimately, the Academy didn’t have to, with both film teams having their moment on the stage. The split win also recognizes the two most effective acquirers of Oscar shorts right now—Netflix and The New Yorker. 

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View previous Oscar-nominated films, winners, and further coverage from the awards on our dedicated CHANNEL.

Whether you believe in aliens or not, the idea of communicating with another species remains a compelling prospect for many. For storytellers in particular, narratives about alien contact continue to hold enduring appeal for a range of reasons – whether as a way to explore humanity’s place in the universe or as a mirror reflecting contemporary society. The challenge, as always with such well-trodden territory, is finding a way to tell the story without it feeling stale or derivative. It’s a challenge taken on by filmmaker Adebukola Bodunrin, whose background in experimental animation helped shape her SXSW short We Are Not Alone.

“We Are Not Alone is a lo-fi sci-fi parable about connection and expectation, but underneath it’s about the false promise of the American Dream”

“Post-Covid, I found myself thinking about isolation and the quiet humiliation of feeling left behind”, Bodunrin reveals as we discuss why she wanted to bring Ezra Claytan Daniels’ short comic (of the same name) to the screen. Adapting that original story into what the director describes as a “lo-fi sci-fi parable about connection and expectation”, We Are Not Alone stands out as one of the more original pieces of recent science-fiction filmmaking we’ve encountered, taking a somewhat familiar premise and transforming it into something unexpected and memorable.

That sense of distinctiveness is largely rooted in Bodunrin’s aesthetic approach. Shooting on Kodak Ektachrome 16mm, the filmmaker incorporated the short’s animated elements directly onto the film stock – painting, scratching, printing, and etching onto its surface. Yet this visual strategy is far from a gimmick; it serves a clear expressive purpose. The 16mm format lends the film a timeless quality, reinforcing the mysterious tone of the narrative (the alien presence is never explained). Meanwhile, the animation gives that presence a tangible dimension, almost as if the extraterrestrials are communicating through the screen itself. As Bodunrin explains:

“I wasn’t interested in abandoning my animation practice. I wanted to contaminate the live-action world with it. The goal was to create a hybrid form where the handmade marks felt like an emotional undercurrent, almost like the characters’ inner language bleeding onto the film itself . . . I was interested in creating a parallel visual language, something like hieroglyphics running beside the narrative. The marks aren’t decorative. They function as a second voice, one that feels ancient, mechanical, and slightly alien.”

“I wanted to challenge myself to direct a live-action narrative while still working through an analog, tactile process. I wasn’t interested in abandoning my animation practice,” Bodunrin discussing her production

As a science-fiction fan, I was especially taken with Bodunrin’s spin on the first-contact narrative. The film’s use of language – both the imagined language of the aliens and the visual language of cinema itself – felt inventive, playful, and genuinely engaging. In that sense, We Are Not Alone brought to mind Arrival by Denis Villeneuve. The two films are, of course, very (VERY) different in scale and approach, but honestly I can’t think of higher praise to give this short or its director.

Looking ahead, Bodunrin has more exciting projects ahead. Next on the horizon is a new experimental short that will continue her exploration of “direct intervention on film as both image and object,” pushing the technique toward “more intricate, layered mark-making and abstraction”. She’s also developing another short alongside writer Ezra Claytan Daniels, which the filmmakers describe as focusing on “the psychology and performance of online email scams.” If We Are Not Alone is any indication of what to expect, both projects are definitely ones to keep on the radar.

Conversations within the film industry frequently invoke the language of community and ecosystem. These terms suggest a dynamic network of artists, institutions, and intermediaries working in dialogue with one another. Yet when examined more closely, the reality can feel considerably more fragmented. In our experience as online programmers, the short-film landscape in which we work often operates in distinct silos. Festivals provide spaces where filmmakers meet other filmmakers, exchange ideas, and build relationships. But what of the journalists, distributors, and programmers who also shape the industry? Outside of the occasional panel discussion, these figures can feel noticeably less present – or at least less accessible – within the same spaces.

If such divisions exist, the question becomes: who might address them? What would it look like if these different roles within the industry were brought into closer and more sustained dialogue? And what might that mean for the broader health of the film ecosystem?

One organisation attempting to explore these questions is the Ouray International Film Festival. Building on the intimate, community-focused ethos that has come to define the festival, its organisers have launched the Ouray Film Sabbatical – an initiative designed to bring together filmmakers, critics, programmers, and other industry participants in a shared space of reflection and exchange. Conceived as an extension of the festival’s broader values, the sabbatical seeks to foster a slower, more deliberate environment for conversation: one in which creative practice, critical thought, and professional development can intersect.

The first edition of the sabbatical took place in the mountain town of Ouray in early March 2026. Speaking with the organisers, facilitators, and fellows who participated, it becomes clear that the initiative is motivated by a broader concern about the structural pressures currently shaping the film industry – and by a desire to imagine alternative ways of relating to both the work and the people who make it.

Filmmakers, film writers and film programmers gathered in the town of Ouray, for the first ever Ouray Film Sabbatical.

Rethinking Roles Within the Film Ecosystem

A central idea behind the sabbatical is the belief that the industry often undervalues the interconnected nature of its different roles. Jake Abell, co-founder of the Ouray International Film Festival and one of the programme’s hosts, argues that the separation between creative and critical labour is frequently taken for granted. “We mistakenly think that’s inevitable,” he explains. For Abell and the sabbatical team, an important starting point was the recognition that the various participants who shape the life of a film – not only those who make it, but also those who write about, programme, and circulate it – contribute meaningfully to the cultural conversation surrounding cinema.

This perspective was echoed by fellow sabbatical host Ben Wiessner – a producer we’ve featured regularly on Short of the Week and co-creator of the Short to Feature lab with Jim Cummings – who describes early conversations about how the initiative might encourage participants to begin “having one conversation about the ecosystem with multiple different stakeholders.” In other words, the goal was not simply to gather people from different professional backgrounds, but to place them in a setting where those distinctions could temporarily soften, allowing participants to engage with one another more openly.

“What are we good at? What do we not see? What are we hearing people need?”

For the organisers behind the Sabbatical, it was clear from the outset that they wanted to develop something within the educational sphere that might help reimagine what a filmmaking community could look like. However, the project also emerged from a broader reflection on what contemporary filmmakers and industry workers appear to need. As Wiessner puts it, the organisers asked themselves a series of guiding questions: “What are we good at? What do we not see? What are we hearing people need?” These questions ultimately shaped the ethos of the sabbatical.

Among the inspirations behind the initiative were filmmaking duo the Daniels, long associated with a collaborative ethos that emphasises mutual support within creative communities. Reflecting on their influence, Wiessner notes that their example helped crystallise a key principle for the programme: that those who gain experience within the industry have a responsibility to “send the ladder back down” to others coming up behind them.

The organisers were also conscious of the wider social and political context in which cultural work now takes place. Facilitator Dr. Sabeen Ahmed emphasises that one of the sabbatical’s aims was to create an environment where participants felt “safe, cared for, and genuinely seen – not simply as filmmakers or industry members, but as creatives and storytellers navigating a ruthlessly atomized, brutally capitalist, and deeply alienating world.” Within such a context, Ahmed suggests, the opportunity to encounter others with “curiosity, generosity, and a sense of shared purpose,” can itself become a meaningful intervention.

Hosts, facilitators & fellows gather at the table of the sabbatical house in Ouray. Photo by festival co-founder and sabbatical host Jared LaCroix

Rest as a Creative Resource

Underlying the initiative is a simple but often overlooked premise: that film professionals require not only opportunity and visibility, but also community, support, and rest in order to sustain meaningful creative work. Of these three principles, it was the final one – rest – that the organisers ultimately felt was most urgently needed.

“Nobody’s talking about rest, apart from as a cry for help,” Abell observes. In response, the sabbatical deliberately resists the productivity-driven logic that often governs the film industry. Rather than prioritising measurable output or project development, the programme encourages participants to step away from the constant momentum of festival submissions, networking obligations, and production timelines.

Filmmaker and attendee Hannah Schierbeek echoes this sentiment, noting that “rest and reflection are essential for artists.” While sabbatical fellow and S/W alum Kayla Abuda Galang praised the initiative for providing “moments to step back, listen, laugh, and simply be.” She added that the space carried a lot of “heart and humanity”- qualities that can easily be lost amid “the grind and endless strategic planning required to get your stuff made.”

In practice, this philosophy shapes the rhythm of the sabbatical itself. Time in Ouray is structured around slower activities: visiting the local hot springs, speaking with students at the town’s school, walking through the surrounding landscape, or engaging in small creative exercises.

“Permission to make mistakes and not take a creative task too seriously helps you get out of your head”

The latter was something facilitator and filmmaker Anna Baumgarten felt particularly strongly about, seeing tactile crafts as an important reminder of “how important it is to play.” In an industry so often governed by deadlines and pressure, Baumgarten suggests that the freedom to “not take a creative task too seriously helps you get out of your head.” As she notes, film projects can take years to complete, so being able to create something in a few hours – and experience a sense of creative accomplishment – can be genuinely rejuvenating.

In many ways, the most productive moments of the sabbatical occur precisely when productivity is not the primary goal. Conversations about work and the state of the industry often emerge organically – during a walk through the mountains or while sitting together making bead lizards in the sabbatical house. These low-pressure environments allow participants to articulate doubts, uncertainties, and aspirations that can be difficult to voice in more professional contexts, making these conversations not only possible, but productive.

Hosts, facilitators & fellows pose in front of the ‘Switzerland of America’ lookout sign in Ouray. Photo by festival co-founder and sabbatical host Jared LaCroix

A Different Kind of Industry Gathering

Most professional gatherings in the film world are oriented toward a specific objective – pitching a project, developing a feature, or networking for career advancement. The Ouray Film Sabbatical, however, takes a different approach. Rather than centring on productivity, it provides both physical and mental space to reflect and recharge between projects. The hope behind this alternative model is twofold: to help prevent burnout and to foster open, honest conversations about the industry – how it can thrive, and how we can take care of the people who make it run.

Filmmaker Sam Osborn, who attended the programme with his creative partner Alejandra Vasquez, notes that the sabbatical differs significantly from typical industry environments. “We didn’t each go into the sabbatical with a film to workshop,” he explains. In contrast to the atmosphere on set or at festivals – where professionals often feel pressure to project competence and confidence – the residential format allowed participants to step away from what he describes as the “self-mythologizing” that can accompany creative careers.

Within this setting, Osborn says participants could “set aside those worries and feel free to ask dumb questions, talk about day jobs, or even just spend an entire day not talking about movies at all.” For him, some of the most meaningful conversations that took place were ones he had not previously allowed himself to have.

It’s this rarity of a retreat-based model that makes the Ouray Film Sabbatical stand out. Facilitator Baumgarten points out that spaces like this are few and far between – but precisely because of that, they are vital. She highlights the “expansive conversations and creative problem-solving” that such an environment provokes, describing them as essential not only for the attendees themselves but for the future of the film industry and the “dynamic conversations” surrounding it.

“Spaces to break down the silos between different practitioners in the industry must urgently continue to be nurtured!”

Another key element of the sabbatical is its multidisciplinary approach. Bringing together professionals from across the industry in one space for four days encourages participants to reconsider the boundaries between their respective roles. Sabbatical fellow Elizabeth Rao notes that these distinctions are often more artificial than they appear, and that spaces which “break down the silos” of the industry must “urgently continue to be nurtured”.

For many of the sabbatical’s first fellows, the sense of community that emerges from this format is particularly significant. Filmmaker Hannah Schierbeek describes the experience as a reminder that moments of uncertainty within creative careers – which can often “feel isolating” – are widely shared, prompting an important reflection: “we are not alone”.

The hosts & facilitators of the Ouray Film Sabbatical gather for a picture in the snowy landscapes surrounding town. Photo by Kayla Abuda Galang

Small Experiments, Larger Possibilities

Following a series of crises in recent years, the film industry continues to exist in a state of flux, with debates about how to sustain and reshape it showing little sign of slowing. Many of the proposed solutions emphasise the need for change at every level of the ecosystem, which is precisely why initiatives like the Ouray Film Sabbatical feel increasingly significant. The filmmakers and practitioners who take part are not yet at the peak of their careers, and so the conversations and values developed in spaces like this have the potential to travel with them – informing their work and, in time, being passed on to others throughout their professional lives. Of course, Ouray is a small town and the sabbatical operates with limited resources, which naturally places limits on what it can achieve on its own.

For that reason, the organisers hope the model itself might prove influential. Abell openly describes the decision to launch the initiative as a “wager”, acknowledging the risks involved. At the same time, he believes that other “festivals, organisations, labs, [and] similar organisations” could adopt a comparable approach – bringing people together across professional boundaries as a way to foster conversation and help move the industry in a healthier direction. Abell also remains optimistic about the sabbatical’s own future, expressing excitement about welcoming more industry professionals to Ouray while also looking to “sustain the relationships built over this initial gathering”.

“More opportunities is not something solved by just money”

For fellow organiser Wiessner, the initiative also reflects a broader belief that expanding opportunities in the film industry is not simply a matter of funding. As he puts it, “more opportunities is not something solved by just money.” Instead, Wiessner argues that it is possible to “create a sense of abundance from very little” – provided that those who have already progressed within the industry recognise a responsibility to support those coming up behind them. His suggestion is to “be demanding” of those who have climbed the ladder, ensuring they actively help foster the next generation of filmmakers. It is a perspective that resonates strongly with us at Short of the Week, where we not only acknowledge our alumni as part of our continued success, but credit them with making the platform possible in the first place.

Ultimately, spaces like the Ouray Film Sabbatical matter because they offer something many of us risk losing when we become absorbed in our work: a reminder of the importance of people. Spending time with others who care deeply about filmmaking – and who are willing to speak honestly about the challenges of sustaining that passion – can itself be restorative. If the film industry often describes itself as an ecosystem, initiatives like this suggest that maintaining its health may require more than simply producing new work. It may also require cultivating the conditions in which the people behind that work can connect, reflect, and occasionally pause long enough to rediscover why they fell in love with filmmaking in the first place.

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Submissions for the 2027 Ouray Film Sabbatical will open later in 2026, if you want to submit your film to the Ouray International Film Festival you have until March 21st.

Getting ready to capture Egypt’s landscapes and culture always is filled with more last minute items than I had planned

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Another playful exploration of the architectural aspects of the magnificent Harpa Concert Hall of Reykjavik

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To tell an empathetic story with characters that barely move sounds nearly impossible, right? Yet five students manage to do exactly that in Forever, building an entire emotional and comedic world around a group of garden gnomes whose rigid ceramic faces and bodies somehow carry more determination, will, pride, and stubborn heroism than many human protagonists.

Directed by Théo Djekou, Pierre Ferrari, Cyrine Jouini, Pauline Philippart and Anissa Terrier from École des Nouvelles Images, this six-minute short transforms the quiet backyard life of kitschy statuettes into a full-blown cinematic adventure. Here, the simple act of losing golf balls over a garden fence becomes an existential threat to a fragile society that refuses to accept its destiny as merely decorative. The premise is wonderfully absurd but treated with complete sincerity, as if the fate of these small figures truly hinged on defending their territory against an invisible, unreachable enemy.

With each gnome defined through posture, staging, and timing, their typically static forms become a surprisingly expressive cast. Their rigidity is both the joke and the charm, as their quest for revenge gradually evolves into something closer to a miniature epic. What unfolds is essentially a silent comedy driven by determination and an abundance of cultural references, where the language of Hollywood blockbusters is affectionately exaggerated and distilled into compact visual sketches – without ever feeling obvious or overplayed.

Dramatic framing, heightened tension, excellent sound design, and heroic poses elevate the gnomes’ struggle into something that feels both ridiculous and oddly sincere: a parody rooted in affection, with a singular goal – to defeat their ominous enemy. This antagonist remains unseen; we witness only the consequences of their actions. The true culprits – the humans behind it all, whose careless golfing disrupts the gnomes’ world – remain just out of sight.

The gnomes prepare for confrontation, organizing themselves as if facing an invading army. And yet, the only visible adversary they encounter is something far less sinister: a dog wandering through the battlefield, blissfully unaware of the war unfolding beneath its paws. It’s a small but perfect choice. The dog is neither evil nor malicious – it’s simply behaving like a dog – and by leaving it exactly as it is, the film preserves the innocence of its world while gently reminding us that the epic struggles we imagine are often invisible to everyone else.

Forever is a playful tribute to the blockbusters of our youth and a testament to the power of animation. In a world obsessed with constant motion, these characters stand victorious without shifting a muscle, telling – through the humblest of figures – a story about courage, rivalry, and heroic determination. It’s absurd, yet strikingly precise, proving that with enough imagination, even the quietest objects in a garden can carry the weight of an epic.

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In the coming weeks, I will be exploring Egypt, so here's a taste from last year's trip.

The post Throwback Thursday – 32 appeared first on Dutch goes the Photo!.

Stay with me, and by extension, with Sister!, a short film that I’ve come to adore, but which I recognize could be a hard sell for loyal S/W viewers. Not because of its lack of quality, of course, but because its sensibility is different in many ways from our typical featured short.

The story of a woman who pops in unexpectedly on her unsuspecting Brooklyn-based “sibling” (their moms supposedly share a sperm donor), Sister! is a fun, transgressive, and over-the-top queer comedy written by its stars, up-and-coming talents Julia Wendt and Tessa Belle, and is an unapologetic showcase for the duo’s comedic stylings.

So far so good, but, and perhaps I am projecting here, I was fairly resistant to the film early in my initial viewing. Partly, I recognize we’re chauvinistic towards directors, and this is, resolutely, a writer/performer film. We’ve sat through enough LA actor-driven web series to be trepidatious of this. Directed by John Onieal, notable as the creator of Grindr’s first scripted show, his direction is quite deft, but, between the film’s limited locations and the rapid pace of its joke delivery, the short presents more like a single-camera sitcom than an auteurist work. Onieal’s contributions are necessary but subtle, managing the reservoir of written comedy in a collaborative process that “involved a lot of riffing with each other, comedians, and department heads so to ensure that what we were making resonated,” and making sure the camera platformed the strengths of his stars.

Fortunately, Wendt and Belle deliver star turns. Part of the roughness of the early going is that Wendt is left to establish the initial tone by playing off of a deadpan Asha Ward, but the transfemme Wendt’s line delivery is very affected and can come off as stilted. However, like a stray note brought into harmony, Belle’s entrance into the film soon snaps the dynamic into place, and their chemistry is dynamic.

It’s also relentless. The pair’s comedy style, which is progressive, but playfully mocks the excesses and contradictions of Gen-Z wokeness in subject, is basically all-joke, all-the-time in practice. It’s frankly remarkable—the film has almost no standard exposition, no calm, sincere moments, it’s pretty much 13-minutes straight of jokes.

Naturally, your mileage may vary on the effectiveness of these—comedy is hard! But a ton of them land for me, and the great thing about a high-joke tempo is that if one falls flat, another is right on its heels. The production showed up to the shoot with a huge list of ALT jokes and planned for extensive space to improvise on set, so the team had a huge surplus of material in the edit to pick what was hitting the best, and it shows.

Even if the effectiveness of the comedy is questionable for you, I argue that it is deserving of admiration. Comedy is criminally underrepresented in shorts, and especially this sort of comedy, which is not ironic, surreal, or absurdist, but focused on jokes. Wendt and Belle blasting jokes to set up a joke which delivers a joke punchline is the closest I’ve seen to a short reaching something like classic 30 Rock, which I perceive as a gold standard. That the film also has heart is almost a miracle. In the midst of their bludgeoning, escalatingly hysterical final act, the film’s producer, Jeremy Truong, challenged the production to “find moments of emotional truth,” and while the “sisters’” ultimate catharsis and bonding is telegraphed, it genuinely lands.

A feature at last year’s Tribeca Festival, we’re pleased to present the online premiere of Sister! Take advantage of this opportunity to watch a very funny short, which we expect to be a launchpad for this impressive team, especially Wendt and Belle. 

The journey may be lengthy, but it's rewarded with a fantastic Chinese meal in Egypt at China Red restaurant.

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There is something about the locker – or changing – room that consistently proves fertile ground for storytelling. Perhaps it is a space defined by vulnerability, both physical and psychological, where social dynamics are heightened and identities are negotiated. In Ce qui appartient à César (English title: Changing Rooms), the César-nominated short by Violette Gitton, this environment becomes both a site where toxic masculinity festers and a space in which its young protagonist begins to process his emotions and mature.

Changing Rooms immediately immerses the viewer in its world, opening within the charged atmosphere of a fencing class. Our first clear encounter with 12-year-old César, the film’s lead character, sees him strutting towards the camera wearing only trousers and a chest protector designed for female fencers. As one of the boys is encouraged to “strip off,” César introduces the so-called “dick-o-meter,” a ruler used to measure the body part referenced in the device’s name, signalling early on the film’s engagement with performative masculinity and peer pressure.

Billie Blain (L) and Marius Plard stars as siblings in Changing Rooms

While this burgeoning toxic masculinity dominates the film’s opening moments and helps establish César’s social environment, Gitton soon shifts tone. A more vulnerable version of the boy is soon revealed as he addresses a video camera, marking a pivotal transition. From this point – particularly following the disclosure of his sister’s assault – the film develops into a layered exploration of adolescence, responsibility, and emotional confusion.

Gitton has stated that she hoped the film would interrogate “the way boys are confronted with violence and expectations about masculinity,” and this intention is clearly reflected in her narrative approach. By presenting the story through César’s perspective, she avoids depicting the assault itself, instead focusing on the internal turmoil of a young boy grappling with how to respond. This choice not only lends the film a distinctive perspective but arguably results in a more resonant and considered portrayal than a more direct representation might have achieved.

“I could see that something intense and confusing was happening inside him”

As is often the case with stories of this nature, the film is, unfortunately, rooted in personal experience. “I was sexually assaulted when I was 14, and I was struck by the reaction of my younger brother,” Gitton explains. “I could see that something intense and confusing was happening inside him.” Reflecting on later conversations, she notes that he described it as “strange” to grow up as a boy while also recognising that “men (like he was) could also represent a threat.”

Despite this traumatic event behind the film’s conception, Changing Rooms ultimately adopts a constructive and forward-looking perspective. Gitton emphasises that her intention was not to recreate the trauma itself, but to tell a story “that could feel useful for today’s younger generations,” adding that she wanted to “create something that young people could recognize themselves in, without simplifying their emotions or their contradictions.” An intention that’s especially significant in the context of adolescence, offering a nuanced reflection on the complex and often conflicting emotions young people must navigate as they grow.

What facts about your state’s history should be strongly told?

When a man has a country in which he was born… it becomes sacred to his heart, and it is hard to leave it.” (Seminole talks excerpt –1817-1842)

Our 2026 springtime roadtrip began in Tallahassee, the capitol city of the “Sunshine State.” This would be the first time that we actually spent more than one day in Tallahassee. So Ruth and I decided to visit Florida State University for a brief look around that would not take that much effort after our long drive yesterday. As it turned out, we found out at the visitor center that most of the campus would be shut down due to spring break with students gone and traffic minimal. That included the closure of their renowned Museum of Fine Arts, which I was most looking forward to see. So with plan B  in mind, we instead walked around the football stadium followed by a brief visit to the Student Union.

But what struck me most on this eerily quiet morning visit was the obvious presence of the Seminole Indian symbol everywhere I looked. These observations led me to  recall flashbacks to my former time as a history teacher when I briefly taught a few pages of textbook reference about the Seminole wars that took place in Florida during the early 19th century. For the facts noted then was that this was a tragic time in American History, which ultimately resulted in mass relocation of Native American tribes from Florida  along the “Trail of Tears” route to what is now as the state of Oklahoma. 

So as I resume my curious explorations of America as a road tripper again, I remind myself how such travels have a way of changing how history feels. For upon further reflection about this FSU visit,  I realize that the ubiquitous Seminole Indian imagery along banners , paintings, and statues I saw then  felt much deeper than an enthusiastic school spirit at the time. For these symbols stood for an unconquered people who’s loving spirit for their sacred land lives on today.

Anticipating another visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum, excited to see the difference of a year in its development.

The post A Saturday Shortcut appeared first on Dutch goes the Photo!.

Today we marvel at the sailing felucca on the Nile, experiencing a rich blend of history and serenity

The post Sunday Serenity appeared first on Dutch goes the Photo!.

What places you go to help you slow down and relax?

“Nourishing yourself in a way that helps you blossom in the direction you want to go is attainable, and you are worth the effort.” (Deborah Day)

Whenever I cross over the Lake Pontchartrain causeway into greater New Orleans,  I have entered what is so called the “Big Easy.” For this cosmopolitan city has acquired a reputation for its free flowing fun atmosphere of music, food, and constant motion indulgence takings place around Bourbon Street and nearby areas downtown. On previous visits,  I particularly enjoyed live music played along Frenchman Street, which although a little less crowded still can be a quite a raucous occasion. I also seem to have been drawn to that those energizing walks  along the Mississippi River shoreline  or hopping on a historic street car to gaze at old oak tree lined  streets enveloping  19th century antebellum homes  in the Garden District.

But on this particular vacation, I took a different point of view about how to replace New Orleans with a comparably fun experience on a smaller scale. Thus  we discovered quaint Mandeville and Albita Springs  along the northwest coast of Lake Pontchartrain as suitable replacement stopovers pictures  for two days on our  road trip. In particular, I took notice of the presence of live music being played Saturday night featuring several bands of interest from a variety of musical styles. I mean why put up with the New Orleans crowds on Saturday night when top notch entertainment like Tuba Skinny would take place a couple miles from our hotel at the intimate setting of Albita Springs Town Hall? As we’d have plenty of “time to kill “ in the morning and afternoon before the concert, we’d  also explore  the relatively pristine shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain at Fountainbleu State Park. Just water, sky and open space to slow down seemed the right formula at the time.

So travel for me I realize is not always about going to the places that I’ve heard the most about. No I didn’t indulge in New Orleans fun as I normally do. But in opting for the north shore Lake Pontchartrain vicinity to explore instead, I realized that this alternatively quieter version of “Big Easy” logically was the best choice at the time. 

In March 2020, during the first month of COVID-19 lockdowns, Greece’s SOS Line 15900 – a national service supporting those affected by gender-based violence – recorded 325 calls, a 370% increase from the 69 calls received in the same month the previous year. Confronted by this sharp rise in violence in her home country, Greek writer-director Markela Kontaratou turned to filmmaking as a means of processing and expressing her response. The result is Scorched Earth, a London Film School graduation project that went on to screen at the Locarno Film Festival.

“The film was conceived as a Neo-Noir/Giallo that subverts the trope of a male voyeur”

Drawing on the visual and tonal traditions of Neo-Noir and Giallo, Scorched Earth is set in a sun-drenched Greek seaside town. It follows Stela, who returns home to focus on her studies, only to find herself increasingly disturbed by the presence of her abusive neighbour. As his violence towards his partner escalates, Stela becomes entangled in a possible crime, prompting her to take action seek out the truth.

Kontaratou’s intention with Scorched Earth is not only to foreground the ongoing realities of gender-based violence, but also to interrogate the ways in which such incidents are often mediated and sensationalised. As she suggests, the film critiques how violence is transformed into a “serialized, grotesque sensation” within media culture. To explore this, she turns to genre, incorporating elements of horror and thriller in order to “create a world that reflects the way in which femininities are treated in real life and in film.”

“Artificial was also our choice of purple moonlight, creating a surreal, mysterious atmosphere, connecting to the character of Vicky who also wears purple”, director Kontaratou discussing the production

With regards to production, the film adopts a distinctive aesthetic. Shot on 16mm, with a pronounced purple hue in its night sequences, Scorched Earth embraces a stylised visual language that introduces a layer of artificiality to an otherwise grounded subject. For Kontaratou, this is a deliberate strategy: “I tried to portray the female experience of the male gaze by putting the audience in the place of being conscious that they are watching something constructed.” Techniques such as “dirty” point-of-view shots, zooms, and expressive camera movements work to unsettle the viewer, continually suggesting the presence of something hidden within the frame.

The result is a deliberately voyeuristic experience, in which both the protagonist and the audience occupy a position of uneasy spectatorship. Kontaratou acknowledges that the film resists narrative closure, offering more questions than answers. As she explains, the intention is for viewers to recognise that these narrative decisions were “plot points rather than plot holes,” inviting reflection rather than resolution. The core takeaway from Scorched Earth is a persistent and troubling question: “why we are all so often silent onlookers when faced with situations of gendered violence?”

How would you best handle a long lasting term crisis in your life?

“…Now, gentle flags that flutter on the graves

Recall the pain in blood where armies fell

And multitudes of tombstones line the hills

As somber spirits cast a ghostly spell”…

(Barry Middleton – impressions of Vicksburg battle)

As I set foot in Vicksburg on this road trip, I came across the above quote. Reading these words , it was easy to picture Vicksburg as a place that has seemed to stand still since since its iconic Civil War battle in 1863. Know then I imagined that Vicksburg’s setting straddling high cliffs above the Mississippi River was not the right place for a quick war resolution as time became the ultimate weapon itself. For what happened here was endurance under pressure as both Union and Confederate soldier losses mounted for over forty seven days.

So that’s what makes Vicksburg feel uncomfortably relevant today. So many conflicts nowadays don’t resolve. They linger, expand and settle into something prolonged where the question is no longer who wins quickly but rather how long can it go on? Consider, for example, the difficult terrain that the Vicksburg siege conflict was fought on. How much has war changed since then? Like a chess game, the advancing militia seeks to take advantage of strategic place positioning of troops in order to overwhelm the enemy. But that doesn’t always work so well for as in chess a stalemate often occurs when there’s no clear winner or loser in this battle . Meanwhile innocent people caught behind the scenes can only watch the bombs fall on their precious land.

So  Vicksburg’s bloody long history should not be underestimated. Inciting war in the Middle East now may seem to be a glamorous choice on the surface for ego driven power holders. But is it worth risking prolonged crisis which might threaten to erupt into a worldwide crisis?  We must learn to work out our problems peacefully together to sustain the ultimate survival of our human species. Perhaps  my travels might help in some way to accomplish that task. 

Margarethe 89 was a bolt out of the blue during the 2023 festival season. Its mature spy-thriller plot line and grounded, historical realism felt like a novel pairing for a stylish, adult-focused animation, making the film an instant splash at spots like Director’s Fortnight, Annecy, and Curtas Vila do Conde. Animation is often pigeon-holed as a medium for the fantastic—a way to represent the unreal via strange worlds and creatures or represent interiority through dreams and visions, but Margarethe 89 instead utilizes the control inherent in animation to recreate for viewers the stifling surveillance state of the East German Stasi, to wonderfully paranoid and claustrophobic effect.

Directed by Lucas Malbrun, based on a script co-written with his frequent collaborator, Marie Larrivé, the filmmaker was born in Munich in 1990, and grew up in a reunited Germany where “strange revelations about this vanished country were omnipresent.” Inspired by the regime’s tactic of “Zersetzung” or “dissolution,” he sought to transpose the story of Gretchen from Goethe’s Faust to a new context. In an interview with Vimeo Staff Picks for the short’s online premiere, he notes that, “Gretchen’s love for Faust is based on a misunderstanding: he comes across as a young and righteous man, but is in fact an old man in pact with the devil…exploring the figure of the manipulative male, himself under the influence of third party…was compelling to me.”

Heinrich is that manipulative male, but Malbrun sees him as a victim of the regime, too. The film intriguingly begins on a surreal note with a parade where, instead of figures from pop culture – Snoopy, or Mickey, and the like – Heinrich witnesses a giant floating bust of Karl Marx. Malbrun is emphasizing the totalizing nature of ideology and how indoctrination begins very young. The film’s visual look reinforces this concept of arrested development, deploying bright colors in the images, added to the film by the use of normal, school-standard felt-tip pens.

Revolution is currently in the air in our media, as the best TV show of recent memory served as an epic chronicle of a nascent resistance movement, while the recently crowned Best Picture winner is about what we build once revolutionary fires burn out. The tragedy of Margarethe 89 is a nice complement to this moment, and shows how animation can be a strength within mainstream genres and storytelling modes. I’ve often noted that period pieces, despite their popularity in features and television, are tough for short films to execute. Margarethe 89, which evokes the popular German series Deutschland 83 via its title, feeds audience appetites for this sort of mainstream genre, with the level of sophistication and style they are accustomed to. It’s another big swing for the French production company, Eddy, which, via pieces like this, Larrivé and Malbrun’s prior film Noir-Soleil, or 2018 S/W selection, Le Mans 1955, is leading the way in showing how animation can tackle genres associated with live-action in sober, but artistically progressive fashion.

As children, our parents can feel like the centre of our world – figures of stability and/or authority who are easily placed on a pedestal. Inevitably, however, there comes a moment when that perception begins to shift, and we start to recognise them as flawed, complex individuals, no less uncertain than we are. It is this quiet but profound transition that Dovydas Drakšas captures with sensitivity and restraint in his London Film School short, Praeis (It’ll Pass) – a film that had its World Premiere in the La Cinef section of Cannes in 2025.

A film focused on perception – how we see ourselves, how we interpret others, and how we are, in turn, perceived – Praeis unfolds with a contemplative rhythm, anchored by two finely judged performances. Ieva Kaniušaitė plays Ada, a daughter beginning to reassess both her father and her place in the world, while Šarūnas Puidokas brings a quiet vulnerability to the role of her father. At 27-minutes long, the film sits at the longer end of the short film spectrum, yet its duration feels justified, largely due to the emotional authenticity these performances sustain throughout.

Šarūnas Puidokas stars as a cigarette smuggler and father at a crossroads in his life.

This extended runtime affords the film the space to observe rather than follow its character, allowing the audience to gradually become immersed in their emotional terrain. While strained parent–child relationships are a familiar narrative framework, Drakšas approaches the material with a notable degree of empathy and nuance. Rather than privileging one perspective over the other, he presents both father and daughter as fully realized individuals, each navigating their own limitations, expectations, and emotional blind spots. The result is a relationship that feels lived-in and recognizably human, avoiding the reductive tendencies that often accompany such stories.

From a programming perspective, articulating precisely what distinguishes a film can sometimes prove elusive. While Praeis may not immediately announce itself through high-concept storytelling or formal experimentation, there is a quiet assurance in Drakšas’ direction that suggests a filmmaker with a clear and confident voice. This quality – subtle, but pervasive – manifests in the film’s pacing, its performances, and its willingness to sit with emotional ambiguity. It is, perhaps, less about what the film does, and more about how assuredly it does it.