Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Love is Just a Death Away

Year: 2022 Runtime: 11 minutes Director: Bára Anna Stejskalová By Caelyn O’Reilly “Love is Just a Death Away” is a beauteous little film about finding love in unlikely places.  It’s also about corpse-puppeteering brain parasites. Stop-motion animation seems to always have a fascination with the macabre, the misunderstood, and societal outcasts. From Burton-produced features like “The Nightmare Before Christmas”(1993) and “Frankenweenie”(2012) to the entire filmography … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Love is Just a Death Away

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Gold Plated (Plaqué Or)

Year: 2022 Runtime: 25 minutes Director/Writer: Chloé Léoni Actors: Salomé Dewaels, Nade Dieu, Noé Englebert, Anae Romnys By Dominic Corr Discussions around class and inequality are often relegated to the conversations of the ‘adults’ in the room – as far as the political landscape is concerned at least. And yet, the harshest impacts of its existence ripple to the young, both as a generational issue … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Gold Plated (Plaqué Or)

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Cimetière

Year: 2022 Runtime: 10 minutes Director/Writer: Sophie B. Jacques Actors: Sophie B Jacques, Jason Roy-Leveillee, Marianne Farley, Marc-Andre Doucet-Beauchamp By Caelyn O’Reilly “Cimetière” is a comfortingly Halloweeny short from French-Canadian writer/director (and in this case, actor) Sophie B Jacques. It follows two people sneaking into a graveyard before beginning a probing conversation about life and death that gets very personal. I love the film’s pumpkin-flavoured … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Cimetière

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: The Letter Room

Year: 2022 Runtime: 30 minutes Director/Writer: Elvira Lind Actors: Oscar Isaac, Alia Shawkat, Brian Petsos, John Douglas Thompson, Kenneth Heaton, Eileen Galindo By Rosa Parra “The Letter Room” (2020) is a short film directed and written by Elvira Lind. Starring Oscar Isaac this film follows a correction officer who is assigned to the letter room where he must inspect every letter. Then suddenly he becomes … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: The Letter Room

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: On My Way (Neige)

Year: 2022 Runtime: 9 minutes Director/Writer: Paule Beaudoin Actors: Benjamin Déziel,Olivia Leclair By Juli Horsford “On My Way”(Neige) begins with some stunningly beautiful shots of snow falling on a street. Snow is piled on the road and director Paule Beaudoin manages to capture an intensity in the snowstorm that keeps these early scenes interesting. Then suddenly we’re inside a home with a man who has … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: On My Way (Neige)

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Public Relations

Year: 2022 Runtime: 22 minutes Director/Writer: Elle Jae Stewart Actors: Elle Jae Stewart, Marcus Henderson, Chloe Paige Flowers By Valerie Kalfrin  Billed as the proof-of-concept pilot for a series, the short “Public Relations” packs a lot of soapy drama into 22-minutes but leaves little room for developing its characters or caring what happens next.  Creator Elle Jae Stewart (The American Theatre of BEing Documentary) stars as Chelsea, a … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Public Relations

Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Joutel

Year: 2022 Runtime: 15 minutes Director/Writer: Alexa-Jeanne Dubé Cast: Marie Tifo, Pierre Curzi By Joan Amenn Joutel was a mining town in Canada and the title of this film includes the dates 1965-1998, which was the duration of the community’s existence. By drawing a metaphor for the lifespan of a place being similar to that of a human being, “Joutel” is a touchingly somber and … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Joutel

Femme Filmmakers Festival Review 7: Freedom Swimmer

Year: 2022 Runtime: 15 minutes Director: Olivia Martin-McGuire By Joan Amenn “Freedom Swimmer” (2022) is a gut-wrenching film about fleeing oppression as well as a lyrical visual poem. This ying yang of narration combined with montage and animation creates a unique and powerful documentary that will haunt you long after the last frame. As the film recounts, from 1950 to 1980 two million refugees swam … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival Review 7: Freedom Swimmer

Nicholas Brothers: Stormy Weather: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Year: 2022 Runtime: 2022 Director: Michael Shevloff Writer: Heather Ross By Joan Amenn Caution: This film may cause an unexpected urge to dance. “Nicholas Brothers: Stormy Weather” (2022) is twenty minutes of pure kinetic joy. While it could be seen as promotional material for the very popular, very talented hip hop duo known as Les Twins, it humbly acknowledges that they stand on the shoulders … Continue reading Nicholas Brothers: Stormy Weather: Tribeca Film Festival Review

Review: “Stagiaire”

Year: 2021 Runtime: 10 minutes Director/Writer: Marina Michelson Cast: Marina Michelson, Spenser Granese, Chloe Wepper, Briana Venkus, Ramiz Monsef, Aaron Smith, Angel Halford, Michael Ashley, Patricio Cabrera-Sanchez By Morgan Roberts If reality television has taught us anything, the professional kitchen is a very male-dominated arena. So, what does it look like to walk into that environment as a woman? Writer/director Marina Michelson explores just that … Continue reading Review: “Stagiaire”