UK based GRIMMFEST, one of Europe’s most prestigious genre film festivals has successfully launched Grimmfest TV, a new online TV channel dedicated to horror films of all types, through which viewers can access exciting features and shorts from the Grimmfest archives for free while the world is in lockdown, GRIMMFEST TV is available at: Grimmfest.com/TV. New titles are being added every week and this week is no exception. One new feature and one new short will hit GRIMMFEST TV at Midday, Friday 8th May 2020. Grimmfest are excited to add Grimmfest 2017 hit, FAKE BLOOD to the Grimmfest TV channel. This murderously clever mockumentary is a real masterclass in audience manipulation from Grimmfest regular and director of recent Canadian horror hit HARPOON. And in addition, the channel will also add Grimmfest 2018 short, ONCE BITTEN, a comedy horror in which Martha, played by the wonderful Lauren Ashley Carter (The Woman, Pod, Jug Face), suspects her plumber may be a vampire. And this one was made in Manchester, Grimmfest’s hometown. Festival Director Simeon Halligan said “We do hope people are enjoying the fantastic shorts and features available to view on Grimmfest TV, we have such a wonderful canon of Grimmfest talent from twelve years of Grimmfest, to choose from, so we are somewhat spoilt! The films will be available to view for free, while everyone is in lockdown.” GRIMMFEST TV launched with a fine selection of over 25 short films and 7 features including Grimmfest 2018 best short award winner, WE SUMMONED A DEMON, Grimmfest 2017 opening night feature, HABIT, Rob Grant’s (HARPOON) horror comedy MON AMI and the suitably virus themed LA CONTAGION. The most popular title on the channel so far is the half-hour retro creature feature, LOOM.

★★ Directed by: #SinthSiva Written by: Sinth Siva Starring: #ArevinthSarma, #ShahnewazJake, #KituKjr, #EstaireAlberti Short Film Review by: Corey Bulloch In the same vein as 2019’s Blue Story and other gritty dramas exploring British youth gangs and crime, writer-director Sinth Siva attempts to explore the material but with a predictable underdeveloped story. Leaving audiences disappointed despite good intentions, the story of Blood Brothers follows the story of two friends Rik and Krishna and how their lives and friendships are tested as one turns to crime as the other find success in university and the tragedy that occurs when their two worlds collide. Siva’s execution of the story doesn’t break the mould but rather is bogged by logical confusions and hamfisted commentary on the issues and plot points. Even though the script implies that Rik and Krishna are in their late teens beginning university, both actors Arevinth Sarma and Shahnewaz Jake look to both be in their late twenties. Siva can’t immerse audiences into his “realistic” vision for these characters lives, it doesn’t feel like an authentic cautionary tale built from actual experiences and emotions but rather one of those preachy “anti-gang” skits you’d see in a school assembly. The message to Blood Brothers is important, with direct references to knife crime in Britain and how youths potential is robbed because of this culture but Siva can’t deliver anything striking. There’s a lack of emotion to its tragedy, the performances are caught between melodrama and parody for both sides of the conflict and no performer stands out from the monotony. The production value to Siva’s film isn’t groundbreaking but does enough to make Blood Brothers slightly enjoyable and not static. Siva’s use of drone footage and steady cam offers visual variety to the more mundane locations mostly consisting of parks and the quaint town the characters reside in. The musical score from Vernon G Segaram and DJ Flaming Soulja is the highlight of the film, the energetic rhythms injecting Rik and Krishna’s story with the vibrancy that the actors and Siva were unable to bring across on screen. The music makes the film engaging but there are times when it can feel repetitive or out of place as the audio work has its fair share of problems with obvious dubbing at certain points. A sequence where Krishna is chased by “a dog” being a key example to Blood Brothers frustrating technical and narrative failings as the camera cuts constantly shift the character’s direction of running, a dog is never visually established only through the repeated audio clip, the scene does little to inform Rik and Krishna’s friendship and is only entertaining because of the musical score. Blood Brothers feels undeveloped and incomplete, considering the reality behind its subject matter the film’s over-reliance on clichés makes the film unable to strike a real chord with its audience. Its a film with its heart in the right place but when compared to other contemporaries in this niche genre it really has nothing on offer besides more of the same in a less affecting fashion. #CoreyBulloch #shortfilm

★★★★ Directed by #LaraGallagher Written by #LaraGallagher Starring #OtmaraMarrero #SydneySweeney Film Review by Matt Weiner A woman trespassing in a cabin in the woods tends to foretell a very different kind of film than Clementine’s smart, sensual coming-of-age story. But writer and director Lara Jean Gallagher’s feature debut, while exploring the relationships that make (and break) us, also doesn’t spare the menace lurking just beneath the surface. Maybe it’s the remote cabin in the woods vibe, but it’s also in large part due to the beautiful gauzy shots of the Pacific Northwest from cinematographer Andres Karu that manage to feel always just on the cusp of sliding from languid daydream to nightmare. Gallagher brings the same inseparable emotions to the story. When Karen (Otmara Marrero) flees Los Angeles and a toxic relationship to break into her ex’s cabin in Oregon, she discovers that she’s not the only interloper in the area. A young aspiring actress Lana (Sydney Sweeney) is also crashing at a nearby house, but quickly finds herself drawn to Karen, open to either validation or love, but undecided on which would be more important. Their relationship starts out relatively chaste, with Karen still smarting from her breakup and wary about the age gap between her and Lana. Driven by a powerful and nuanced performance from Sweeney, Lana’s mix of aloofness and desire turns even the slightest touch into a highly charged event that seems to stop time. There are the aching moments between Karen and Lana as the two bond over heartbreak and trauma. But the sharpest emotional insight that Gallagher brings to her tightly crafted coming-of-age story is to structure it as a psychological drama—one that gets increasingly fraught as the two women push and pull each other into their respective lives. It makes perfect sense though. Trying to discover who we are as teenagers was horrifying enough, but Karen is an unsettling reminder that learning from these mistakes is an imperfect, lifelong process. The thought that adolescence can be a terror not so removed from Hitchcock is a sobering realization. That we might continue to repeat these traumas, and enact them on the ones we love most, is a horrifying one. #MattWeiner

★★ Directed by: #SaurabhArora Written by: #SaurabhArora Starring: #JatinGambhir, #AbhishekOhri Film Review by: Darren Tilby Saurabh Arora’s Hindi-language film, The Silence Before the Storm, gets off to a strong start with its horror-inflected ambience. Unfortunately, it fails to maintain that initial high and slides quickly into mediocrity. Resigned to spending yet another Saturday night in solitude, loner Dhanu (Jatin Gambhir), wants nothing more than to party. But more than that, he wants a friend. Following a chance encounter with his new neighbour, Akaash (Abhishek Ohri), Dhanu feels he may have found just that. And they spend the night drinking and talking about how they’ve been let down by their friends before. However, after receiving a phone call from his friends as mentioned earlier, Akaash upsets his new ‘friend’ by referring to him as “just a neighbour…” and insisting he has to leave, turning down Dhanu’s request to join him. It’s at this time that Dhanu reveals he is harbouring a dark secret. This secret, this other side to Dhanu, is itself, an appealing idea. I’d even wager that it’s likely to take you by surprise. You can see what they were trying to achieve here (the film’s title is presumably referencing this very matter), but it just doesn’t quite pan out as it should. Mainly, I must say, due to the length of the movie. But this is the nature of indie films. You work with the restrictions placed upon you. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Getting characterisation right for films is difficult. And in short movies, in particular, it’s easy for characters to go mostly underdeveloped. Which, despite the performers’ satisfactory efforts, is precisely what we find with The Silence Before the Storm. There’s nothing extraordinary here; nothing that allows the characters – or actors, for that matter – to shine. The dialogue, for instance, is ok but adds nothing to the development of either character or their relationship. There simply isn’t enough reason to care about either of them. The Silence Before the Storm joins the growing list of movies boasting the shot-on-iPhone pedigree. And I think it’s fair to say that it has a pronounced shot-on-phone look and feel. Whether you think this a good or bad thing will depend entirely on you as a viewer. Shooting in this way can add a lot of personality to a film. My feeling is that it doesn’t quite work here: it certainly doesn’t detract from the film, but nor does it add anything beneficial. The sound design, though, is superb and bestows the film the majority of its horror-movie atmosphere. The Silence Before the Storm was an ambitious project, and there’s a solid attempt here at crafting something intriguing and tension-filled. And the filmmakers should be applauded for it. Ultimately though, it lacks in too many vital areas and feels far too wishy-washy to save itself from mediocrity.

★★★★★ Directed by #DavidCharlesRodrigues Written by #DavidCharlesRodrigues #JeffSeymann Starring #TimSeelig Film Review by Brandon Thomas On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. Over the next few weeks and months, many Americans responded by organizing and protesting. The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’s call to arms was quite different: tour the conservative American South. In the timely documentary Gay Chorus Deep South, director David Charles Rodrigues tackles the decades of discrimination, shame and emotion that led to this tour. Choir director Tim Seelig has the best of intentions: he hopes to change hearts and minds with a tour of uncharted territory. Many of the choir’s members originally hail from the South, and they vividly remember the rejection and outright hate directed toward them. For these members, the tour is less about changing minds. This tour is about closing a chapter. At times, Seelig and the choir wade directly into the belly of the beast. They appear on conservative talk radio. They meet with a church that ultimately doesn’t allow them to perform due to a newly-placed homophobic head pastor. Seelig expected these reactions, but it doesn’t soften the sting. The pain of past experiences vividly pours off the screen—tales of humiliation at the hands of adults who should’ve been there for protection. Seelig himself was separated from his children and cast out of the church he gave so much to. The film’s strength is in its devotion to these individual stories. Through the choir members, Rodrigues is able to immerse the film in Southern culture rather than look at it entirely as an outsider. Seelig knows how to shrewdly navigate not only the Southern world but the religious one, too. The discrimination during the tour isn’t blatant as one would expect but is instead wrapped subtly inside the veil of Southern hospitality. This hypocrisy is something Seelig expected and isn’t afraid to constructively call out. While politics is squarely at the forefront, Gay Chorus Deep South isn’t interested in political proselytizing. The “fish out of water” aspect to the film is political enough without dozens of talking heads telling the audience how to feel. Rodrigues wisely lets the choir members naturally move the story along as they navigate a complex, and at times uncomfortable situation. While the music and performances are as impressive and moving as you would expect, the real heart of Gay Chorus Deep South is in those personal stories. Song and dance are easy to sell, but building community inside a structure of fear and hate takes conversation and empathy. #BrandonThomas

★★★★ Directed by #MattWolf Film Review by George Wolf Man, it was a crazy time. A group of hippies got famous for putting on jumpsuits and quarantining themselves in Arizona for two years. Then they tweaked their own rules and bickered until Steve Bannon showed up to "kick ass" and name names. If you were thinking "70s commune" until the Steve Bannon reference threw you, you've forgotten about the great Biosphere 2 experiment from 1991. As much as it made news then, if B2 is remembered at all these days, it usually lands just a notch above "new Coke" on the scale of pop culture face plants. Almost 30 years later, is that a fair assessment, or did Biosphere 2 teach us something valuable? Director Matt Wolf looks for answers with Spaceship Earth, an intriguing look back on a moment when the reach of idealism seemed equal to its grasp. Wolf, as he did with Teenage and Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, leans on a wealth of archival footage to view a historical movement through a modern lens. For Spaceship Earth, that begins with a reminder that B2 was not some grand government project, but the culmination of hippie aspirations. Led by the charismatic John Allen, a group of California dreamers traveled the world performing theater and preaching ecology, gradually increasing their goals until eight of them were moving into a completely closed system boasting a geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller. The aim was to understand biosphere 1 (Earth) enough to be able to replicate it in space. The result was complicated. The film's backstory of the "synergists" and their accomplishments provides a sturdy anchor, as well as a resonant narrative contrast once the B2 project is beset with scientific short-sightedness, group infighting, and the opportunist douch-baggery of Bannon. Wolf's respect for the group is clear, and while that respect isn't unearned, it makes the skirting of some legitimate issues - like Allen's label as a "cult leader" - appear more flagrant. But what Wolf does best is give a whole new taste test to a benchmark in both science and pop culture. Biosphere 2 deserves a better legacy, and by showing us life inside the dome, and then re-framing the entire project through the lessons of the last three decades, Spaceship Earth rests on a compelling case. And, just sayin', new Coke was pretty good, too. #GeorgeWolf

★★★★ Directed by #CokyGiedroyc Written by #CaitlinMoran Starring #BeanieFeldstein Film Review by Hope Madden There may be nothing braver than an open heart. That kind of bravery accompanies a lack of cynicism that makes others hide their eyes. It is also what drives Coky Giedroyc’s big screen depiction of Caitlin Moran’s memoir (adapted by Moran herself), How to Build a Girl. Though events have been condensed and details changed (including the main character’s name), Moran’s inimitable upbeat and insightful voice remains, finding its ideal avatar in Booksmart’s Beanie Feldstein. Feldstein is Johanna, unrepentantly resilient odd duck. Friendless, in love with life, desperate for an adventure, Johanna is the fearless hero in this quest. Feldstein, aside from a few struggles with the accent, commands your attention and very best wishes. You root out loud for her. After a local TV spot as student poet turns mortifying, Johanna’s brother (one of four) suggests she audition for a London magazine’s “gunslinger” opening as music critic. She unironically writes up a piece on the soundtrack to Broadway’s “Annie”—which nabs her an interview, but only as a joke. Undeterred, she overwhelms the smarmy hipsters into an assignment. There are moments where How to Build a Girl transcends its coming-of-age trappings. Those are the moments when it directly quotes the book, giving us a peek inside the skill as a writer that will carry Johanna through it all. The film bears a resemblance to Lady Bird, in which Feldstein portrayed shy bestie to Saoirse Ronan’s adolescent work-in-progress. Like Lady Bird, Johanna craves life outside her hometown. The two heroines also share a lovely knack for forgiveness (of self and others) as well as a strength for self-definition. Feldstein’s work thus far (Neighbors 2, Lady Bird and, most notably, Booksmart) has announced her as the go-to for funny, brainy, less-than-popular teens—which is not to call her a one-trick pony. Part of her draw is her ability to carve out individuals, to recognize and unveil the human heart inside each girl. Her charisma is almost blinding in this film. That’ll help you miss some of the weaker elements. Minor characters are allowed little opportunity to develop and the story feels boiled down to the most obvious plot points. There is nothing superficial about Johanna, but the film itself fails to dive far enough beneath the surface to do her justice. Moran’s audacious humor sometimes feels muted, and that is an outright shame. Nonetheless, Feldstein’s a 1000 watt bulb who makes even the most ordinary scene glow happily. There is also something fearless in a film that decides it is up to every girl to build and rebuild herself in her own image. #HopeMadden

★★★ Directed by #ClarkDuke Written by #AndrewBoonkrong #ClarkDuke Starring #VinceVaughn #LiamHemsworth #ClarkDuke #JohnMalkovich Film Review by Brandon Thomas Clark Duke has established himself as one of the more prominent “Hey! It’s that guy!” actors in Hollywood. You probably don’t know his name, but you’ve seen him pop up on shows and films such as The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine and Kick-Ass. While Duke might not be included among the comedy greats of our time, he shows far more promise as a feature writer/director with his debut, Arkansas. Kyle (Liam Hemsworth) and Swin (Duke) are low-level drug dealers working for a mysterious king-pin named Frog (Vince Vaughn). The two pose as park rangers by day so that they can courier drugs at night for Bright (John Malkovich), one of Frog’s proxies. When one of these runs goes bad, Kyle and Swin find their lives in danger as Frog starts to believe that they are a threat to his drug empire. Duke handles the movie’s tone from the first scene. Not quite interested in gut-busting comedy nor the other darkly comedic side of the coin, Duke, instead, is happy to present this tale with wry wit. Think of a happy marriage between the works of Joe R. Lansdale and Elmore Leonard than that of Tarantino. Fully on board with this tone is the film’s cast. Duke himself plays Swin as a man with unmatched, and unearned, confidence. Malkovich is clearly having a ball, and that allows him to go big, but not Cyrus the Virus big. The odd man out is Hemsworth. Try as he might, Hemsworth tackles every line with a little too much seriousness and bravado. Vaughn continues his recent streak of popping up in interesting indie thrillers. While Arkansas isn’t nearly as intense as Brawl in Cell Block 99 or Dragged Across Concrete, Vaughn attacks the role of Frog with the same sense of danger. Like the film itself, Vaughn’s performance oozes charm, but with menace bubbling just below the surface. Arkansas probably won’t be taking a victory lap during awards season later in the year, but what it will be doing is showing that Clark Duke is a behind -the-camera talent to keep an eye on. #BrandonThomas

★★★★ Directed by #HilaryBrougher Written by #HilaryBrougher Starring #TaliaBalsam Film Review by Cat McAlpine Lila is trying to hold it together, but things keep falling apart. Her best friend has cancer. Her daughters have both left for the summer. Her husband might be leaving forever. The ants will be back soon. Written and Directed by Hilary Brougher, South Mountain refuses to settle into one place. At first, we follow the youngest daughter, Dara (Naian González Norvind), back home from the woods. Then the older daughter, Sam (Macaulee Cassaday), arrives home before her big sail across the Atlantic. We discover that father Edgar (Scott Cohen) has a secret. Gigi (Andrus Nichols) has a lump and her daughter is scared. Everyone has an opportunity, even if glancing, to be the main character. Life’s like that. But it is Lila (Talia Balsam) with whom the camera stays. Lila is at the center of it all. There is only one reference, in passing, to South Mountain’s namesake but the title still fits the tone of the film. Brougher never lets you forget how close the outside world is or how integral it is to this family’s backdrop. We see nature in micro and macro as Lila’s journey comes in and out of focus. The credits open on a nearby waterfall, but as the story narrows, the details get smaller and more mundane. Flies are constantly zooming around the dining room. Fresh blackberries are picked for dessert. We even get a look inside the compost bin because life and leftovers are messy. The narrative is loose. Sometimes new scenes are introduced with a date stamp. “June 22nd”, announces one, in unassuming white letters. Other scenes come and go without any anchor. The clothes change, the light shifts, and you simply realize that this must be a different day. Time never seems to move linearly, but it does keep moving forward. Paired with a shifting focus at the start, Brougher paints a more realistic story of grief and acceptance where some days matter and some do not. Overall, what carries South Mountain is Balsam’s fantastic performance. The story can be too slow and too scattered at times. But it’s impossible to not keep watching Balsam as she moves from self-assured to train wreck to something in-between. Is Lila going to be okay? There won’t be a definite answer but it’s worth the journey. Life’s like that. #CatMcAlpine

★★★ Directed by #BrandenChristensen Written by #BrandenChristensen #ColinMinnihan Starring #KeeganConnorTracy #JettKlyne Film Review by Hope Madden There is a moment that currently fascinates horror filmmakers. It is the moment when we forever lose the sweet little white boy destined to become a sociopath. Director Brandon Christensen (writing with Colin Minnihan) examines parental involvement and even responsibility with the imaginary friend horror, Z. Beth Parsons (Keegan Connor Tracy) and her husband Kevin (Minnihan regular Sean Rogerson) are at odds about how best to handle son Josh (Jett Klyne) and his new buddy. This sounds familiar. Mother is immediately creeped out. Dad is lenient. Boy begins to lash out, blaming imaginary friend. Mom wants to enlist expert help. Dad agrees within reason, but begins to pull away once Mom becomes convinced of a supernatural presence. Bodies begin to pile up. Brightburn The Boy Brahms: The Boy II Hole in the Ground Prodigy That’s just in the last three years. This phenomenon means two things: filmmakers have hit upon a provocatively of-the-moment topic and it will be hard to find a unique perspective on that topic. Though Z never seems fresh, there are moments that feel more authentic than they have any right to. Christensen’s direction lets conversations, in particular, breathe. Actors get the chance to give their characters a heartbeat. Adult family relationships have a lived-in quality that both reinforces themes and carves out layers for the story. As is often the case in this subgenre, the film lives or dies on the role of the mother. Lucky, then, that Tracy gives such a powerful performance. Never showy, Tracy’s weary, passive, put-upon delivery creates a mysterious yet believable character. Beth’s actions feel both natural and unpredictable, which creates a lot of space for the filmmaker to build in surprises. Too much convenience, too many unearned jump scares and too much predictability threaten to sink the effort, but a handful of narrative choices and a few truly solid performances (plus a cameo from the always welcome Stephen McHattie) elevate the film. It’s no We Need to Talk about Kevin (the high water mark for the category), but what is? It is an unsettling way to worry about what we pass on to our kids. #HopeMadden

★★★★★ Directed by #AliceWu Written by #AliceWu Starring #LeahLewis, #DanielDiemer, #AlexxisLemire Film Review by Amber Jackson Writer and Director Alice Wu has returned to our screens with her latest film The Half of It. Protagonist Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is a teenager living a repetitive and quiet existence with her father. Being Chinese-American, she is shown to be an outsider in small-town America with no one she can relate to. Then, she encounters the sweet yet inarticulate Paul (Daniel Diemer) who pays her to write a love letter to widely-liked Aster (Alexxis Lemire), as he has has feelings for her that he cannot articulate. Once Ellie accepts Paul’s offer, everything becomes more complicated and Ellie questions whether or not she wants her own romance with Aster. This new Netflix film arrives sixteen years after the premiere of Wu’s first film, Saving Face, which features young Chinese-American woman Wil trying to navigate life within her Chinese community. She seeks to support and accommodate her traditional mother, whilst simultaneously falling in love with a woman. Wu as the writer and director of this film delicately tackled taboo in a completely original way – by exploring her audience to explore characters that are beautifully witty and boldly romantic. The Half of It echoes this in that it too comments on what it is like to be a Chinese-American woman, particularly when dealing with societal issues such as sexuality and self-expectation. Wil’s journey from being afraid to be vocal, to not caring about what others will think of her is an incredibly heart-warming watch, and we see a younger version of this within Ellie. As a teenager, Ellie is reserved with her emotions but flourishes with her writing and Leah Lewis captures this perfectly in her acting with subtle smiles whenever she is texting or writing to Aster. The film itself is beautiful. Crafted with gentle cinematography that is interwoven with metaphors and messages for the audience to analyse and enjoy. Each character using bright colours, from creating a wall mural to their clothing to finding a beautiful hot spring, hits against the edges of the small, grey town that they exist within. What the audience realises is that this isn’t written to be a love story, but the chemistry between Lewis and co-star Alexxis Lemire is still palpable, with this very visual depiction of Ellie and Aster’s friendship and the sweetness of it as it develops. Lewis creates a very relatable character out of Wu’s script and completely captures the essence of a girl getting her first real crush on another girl for the first time. Everyone, regardless of their sexuality, wants to give this girl a huge hug. Wu has written Ellie in a way that she is accessible for a wide audience, with her difference also being celebrated. She grows to be self-aware within this and longs to explore her identity and the world outside of small town Squahamish. Wu wrote Saving Face when not a lot of positive lesbian characters and romances were being portrayed positively, or even with a happy ending. This was one of the first queer films to defy expectations and it tells a beautiful love story with real challenges. The Half of It amplifies this legacy in a contemporary context, where more and more uplifting LGBTQ+ narratives are being portrayed authentically. With this new film also being made in a post-Trump world, it is increasingly important that these stories are told and this is recognised in the script. This is why Ellie and Paul’s friendship feels so good to watch as it develops. Both have a lot of unsaid dialogue in subtle movements and short sentence bursts that indicate a deep-growing friendship. Ellie’s articulateness contrasts heavily with Paul’s broken syntax but their ability to communicate despite this is a real drawing point to the film. Despite his awkwardness, Paul is immediately kind and upfront around Ellie, which is particularly proven when he objects to others' casual racism. The more Ellie helps him in dating Aster, the more they both realise that she shouldn’t be the focus, but that a unique friendship between them has been born. Paul’s honesty about not understanding Ellie’s sexuality is developed unpredictably by the tenderness that he displays in teaching himself out of his learned prejudice. His value for Ellie and her friendship is the true message of this film. Alice Wu once again captures perfectly with Ellie’s story that being an ‘out-and-proud’ lesbian doesn’t have to be a huge and public declaration – but instead begins from within yourself. The subtlety of Ellie not uttering the words “I’m gay” is so significant because she, Paul and Aster are still discovering themselves. In just daring to consider the wider world outside of their small religious town, they are growing and changing. To say that this film is simply a rom-com does it some disservice. I watched Saving Face as a teenager and The Half of It as an adult. It is an exciting prospect to me that queer teenagers growing up now will potentially watch these films the other way around. Wu's film really cements that the world is changing and people are growing in ways that they couldn’t grow fifteen/twenty years ago with regards to sexuality on screen. It is wonderful to see Alice Wu making films again at a time where she can be even more appreciated for her talent as a writer and director. The Half of It is streaming now on Netflix and is well worth the watch. #AmberJackson

★★★★★ Stars Directed by: #EwurakuaDawsonAmoah Written by: #EwurakuaDawsonAmoah Starring: #EwurakuaDawsonAmoah, #TimothyJCox, #KatAman Film Review by: Alicia Moore How would you feel if no one listened to you even when their job is to do exactly that? “Just Scream” is a short film that brings attention to a young adult, Emma Clark (Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah,) who takes a step forward to speak in an interview about her past experience of assault. The film represents how a large portion of the population react to recounts told by victims of abuse, and that reaction is harrowing. Writer and director Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah was inspired to begin this project after realising that not everyone has a true understanding of the struggle and pain abuse will cause. “Why didn’t you just scream louder?” recalls Dawson-Amoah in a video, explaining her influence for the film, as she describes the response to an incident of what could have been an assault on her friend if help did not arrive when it did. It is clear that she had great motivates in showing the deep effects that an individual will suffer with during and after the horrific events take place. The film consists of one setting; a cosy, plainly decorated and brightly lit interview room. The setting is intimate and immediately makes the audience feel that whatever they are about to witness is going to be very personal. Expanding upon this, one frame is kept throughout the duration of the film which focuses primarily upon Emma Clark. The intimate nature is solidified as Clark arrives on the interview set and takes a seat opposite the interviewer, Carl Peterson (Timothy J. Cox.) Clark appears visibly nervous as Peterson finally announces her purpose for being seated in front of him, the bright lights and the recording cameras. Small gestures, such as playing with her hands and shifting eye contact, add mass amounts of characterisation to Clark and is only the beginning of Dawson-Amoah showcasing her acting talents. She is capable of expressing extreme, passionate emotions with truth and force which can be seen in the climax of the film. As well as Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah having an opportunity to use incredible acting abilities, her writing is impeccable. Peterson begins to ask Clark questions about her experience and gives her a chance to have a voice. However, he is quick to correct her words for professionalism and push her to ensure that she ‘looks at him and not the camera.’ With one setting throughout, the script is heavily relied on and it does not fail. At a point in the interview when Clark begins to unravel the details of the event and relive the shocking memory, Peterson calls for tissues to be handed out but also makes a clear reminder for her to look at him once again and corre ct her speech. It is painful to listen to such lack of sympathy, which only perfectly builds the intended strength of the film. The entirety of the film handles an intense and emotional environment which is carried by the script and acting, but also by lighting and choices regarding the frame of the scenes. When Clark speaks of particularly sensitive details, lights begin to dim and the camera zooms in to focus even more upon the character. This is an important element that adds to the consuming sensitivity of the topic being dealt with. The director of photography, Mike Klubeck, was a key opponent in the making of this film. “Just Scream” is an important representation of how much victims of abuse struggle to be heard and understood. Every component of this film is almost irreproachable and delivers a powerful message through the use of visual details and eloquent language. I applaud everyone involved in its making and hope to see more from Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah as well.