Here’s another round of quick fire reviews from the short films featured in the Films in Paradise segment of PAFF 2020. Unfortunately one of the films in the segment, After Mas, had an issue with the audio so it won’t be reviewed here.
The deliverer (Trinidad & Tobago)
Joseph is a fisherman on a hunger strike. He’s leading a protest against the construction of an oil refinery which threatens to displace his community and livelihood. However, things change when Joseph rescues a wounded drug runner that offers him an opportunity to make enough money to save his home and town. All he has to do is traffic some drugs across from Venezuela.
The Deliverer feels more like a long trailer than a short film. Everything in it sets the film up for the dangerous journey trafficking drugs to and from Venezuela. However, as soon as the set up finishes with Joseph getting on his boat, the film ends. It’s simply a proof of concept short film that the filmmakers have made to try and raise enough funds for a feature film. I guess filmmakers have to do what they got to do to make a feature. Fortunately, this approach is working as The Deliverer is currently being developed into a feature length film. I hope I get a chance to see it.
She Paradise (Trinidad & Tobago)
A teenage girl struggles to fit into a crew of Soca backup dancers in She Paradise. Her shy, quiet personality doesn’t seem to fit the confident aura of the dance team, but, despite this, she keeps trying to break free of her insecurities. With the help of one of the older members of the dance team that she warms to, she ends up with her first chance on stage. Can she make the most of the limelight?
She Paradise was a refreshing change from the mostly male fronted short films I saw in the two short film segments I saw at PAFF. At its center is a heartwarming coming-of-age relationship between a young shy teenage girl and a confident and charismatic dancer that takes her under her wing. The older dancer becomes like a sister to the younger girl, showing her how to embrace her sexuality and act confidentially. These are two characteristics she needs to be a successful soca dancer, but their relationship feels deeper than that. It feels like the older dancer is helping guide the younger girl into adulthood, becoming the role model that the young girl doesn’t appear to have. Helping her to add color to her life (lipstick and make up), feel the music and express herself through dance gives her a foundation to be happy now and in the future. It’s a beautiful win for positivity.
Flight (Jamaica)
Kemar dreams of flying to the moon. He sneaks up onto the roof at night to look at the starry night sky and builds a rocket ship with his best friend. However, when his best friend ‘grows up’ to work for a local gang, Kemar loses the only person that believed with him.
Flight is one of those films that is impossible to hate. The enthusiasm of the young kid and his dreams of becoming an astronaut are contagious. We can see what he imagines with the help of his friend and a few props. However, Flight melts your heart when you find out the reason why he wants to go to the moon; to get closer to his mother. It’s enough to get his dad to join him in building a spaceship to help his imagination get there. A beautifully heartwarming story about a father and son finally connecting and transcending their loneliness through their mutual love for their lost wife/mother.
The blue cape (Puerto Rico)
Two months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the power remains out and buildings continue to collapse. Junior, a ten year old boy, is summoned by his mother to search for medicine for his dying grandfather. He puts on a blue cape and sets off on his quest to save his grandfather.
The Blue Cape is just 6 minutes long but it packs a punch. Every shot is immaculate, and the acting is all on point. My personal highlights were the shots of Junior roaming down to the local town. He hops around loose bricks and walks along planks of wood strewn across the road. From his point of view, it looks like a normal run down town, but then the camera zooms out to reveal the bricks and planks are from half collapsed buildings that are teetering over deep valleys. It’s function is to uncover the colossal damage from the Hurricane that the U.S. media has overlooked. There’s an obvious lack of U.S. support months after the disaster (there’s no sign of repair and still damage everywhere). It directly implicates the U.S. as the ultimate decider of Junior’s grandad’s fate. Powerful and beautiful. Hope to see more from this director.
Head to our Pan African Film Festival Hub for more reviews and short films from the Pan African Film Festival 2020.
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