★★★★ Directed by #TravonFree #ElviraLind #FarahNabulsi #MartinDesmondRoe #DougRoland #TomerSushan Film Review by George Wolf If there was any doubt that movies are mirrors, check the pervasive theme that runs through this year's live-action nominees. All are examples of the struggle to retain human dignity, to be seen simply as worthy. And in four of these five films, that struggle directly involves abuses by law enforcement officials. Feeling Through 18 Mins. Writer/director: Doug Roland A troubled teen (Steven Prescod) needs a place to stay for the night, but his search is interrupted by a deaf and blind man (Robert Tarango) who needs help crossing the street. The fact that Tarango is the first deaf and blind actor to be cast in a film is reason enough to seek this out, but Roland has crafted a truly touching ode to the healing power of caring. Prescod and Tarango are wonderful together, and our short time with both of them is nothing but rewarding. Two Distant Strangers 32 mins. Writer: Travon Free Directors: Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe Really? Another Groundhog Day premise? Yes, but get ready, this gripping slice of activism will rock you. Carter (Joey Bada$$) and Perri (Zaria) are still flirting the morning after their first hookup. Shortly after Carter heads home to check on his dog, an aggressive cop (Andrew Howard) incites a confrontation, and soon Carter is dead on the sidewalk...until he again wakes up in Perri's bed. The scenario plays over and over, with Carter trying to come up with some way to change his fate. Free, a former Daily Show writer making his film debut, lulls you with a comfortable device before lowering the boom. It's uncomfortable, as it should be, but you'll want to thank Free for the experience...as soon as you catch your breath. The Letter Room Writer/director: Elvira Lind The first thing that catches your eye here is a familiar face. Yes, that is Oscar Isaac, starring as Richard, a corrections officer granted a transfer to the facility's letter room. Letters from Rosita (Alia Shawkat) to Death Row inmate Cris (Brain Petsos) captivate Richard's interest, until he's tempted to cross some questionable lines. Lind (Isaac's wife) mines her powerhouse cast for a beautifully subtle layer of humanity. Everyone here is flawed, in different ways and by varying degrees. But Lind lets us see just how far a little empathy can go - even in the darkest places. The Present 24 mins. Writers: Farah Nabulsi Directors: Farah Nabulsi and Hind Shoufani On the morning of his wedding anniversary, Palestinian Yusef (Saleh Bakri) and his young daughter (Mariam Kanj) head out to buy a gift for his wife (Mariam Basha). But the road to celebration is littered with soldiers and segregation, cages and checkpoints. As Yusef endures humiliation in front of his daughter, rising tensions increase the chance of a deadly altercation. It feels somewhat surprising to see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict funneled through a Palestine viewpoint. And though Nabulsi's hand is never overly heavy, a universal power struggle emerges: authority flexes muscle against those trying to remain calm and grasp for options. The Present offers hope that the children can one day find common ground. White Eye 20 mins. Writer/director: Tomer Shushan White Eye's search for humanity begins with a bicycle. An Israeli man named Omer (Daniel Gad) spots his stolen bike locked up on the street. Immigrant Yunes (Dawit Tekelaeb) says he bought the bike fair and square, but Omer doesn't want to hear it. Once Omer alerts the police, the situation (you guessed it) escalates, and soon Yunes's co-workers are in hiding and Omer is staring headfirst into consequences he may not have intended. Gad carves out a 20-minute arc of awakening for Omer that feels achingly real. It's a standout performance, and the driving force that makes White Eye linger with lasting resonance.

★★★★ Directed by: Christopher Deans Written by: Christopher Deans Starring: Paul Findlay, Dominic Thompson, Brian Marks Film Review by: Jason Knight Three men are in a room with a bomb they intend to use and end up arguing, and doubting each other and their goals. It is the eve of the Good Friday Agreement and after a brief news report audio, the three protagonists are introduced: Gerry, Bobby and Michael. They are members of the IRA and are planning a bombing. They are inside a safehouse and have placed a bomb inside a billiard table. After Gerry shows off his billiard skills and performs an action that should had made the bomb explode, the three of them begin to suspect each other of treachery and speculate that it might be a sign that they must not proceed with their intentions. This short dramedy mixes a very serious situation, a bunch of people planning an unspeakable act, with humour. The comedy exists primarily during the first half, as Gerry expresses his enthusiasm for billiards, treats the exploding device like a toy and makes a bet with Michael that he can perform an awesome trick shot. The mood becomes a lot more serious after the trick shot has been done and the device does not go off, causing the characters to lose faith in each other and end the story on a heart-stopping cliffhanger. The entire narrative takes place in their hideout, in real time and it is rather interesting and amusing to watch the protagonists being friendly with each other at first, then turning on each other. All three characters deliver great performances as individuals affiliated to the IRA. Findlay is the one who stands out the most, enthusiastically expressing his love for billiards and then his anger towards his associate, due to their lack of faith in their cause. Regarding the music, the song What's Left of the Flag by Flogging Molly is played during the closing credits and ends the film perfectly. Trick Shot deserves a great deal of praise. Very well acted, with clever dialogue and an intruiging plot, it offers an experience worth pursuing. #JasonKnight Trailer:

★★ Directed by: #SylvieVerheyde Written by: #SylvieVerheyde Starring: #KaroleRocher, #GaranceMarillier Film Review by: Emily Davison Directed and written by Sylvie Verheyde, award winning director for Best Screenplay in her previous work on Stella (2008), Madame Claude (2021) is a biographical drama depicting the rise and fall of Fernande Grudet, the head of a flourishing business dedicated to prostitution from the late 1960s into the 70s. The film has recently dropped on Netflix and is so far garnering mixed to negative reviews from critics and audiences. Madame Claude offers an intriguing subject matter for a potentially electrifying biopic; however, this film does not live up to its potential and unfortunately results in a lukewarm reception. The film perhaps relies on one having a level of familiarity and knowledge of the subject and very little is developed in terms of the vast cast of characters and underwhelming screenplay. There seems to be a lot going on in the narrative, but nothing at all, with many dreary subplots which are often confusing to follow and resulting in an overstuffed story with a distinct lack of gravitas and depth to maintain viewer engagement. The film also suffers from a slow, plodding pace in its second act with very little action of narrative consequence seemingly taking place and could have benefitted with more of a dramatic focus on its female leads. Although it does suffer with a bland and often tedious screenplay and many incidental raunchy sex scenes, Madame Claude is filmed well with an aesthetically pleasing warm colouring and nicely framed shots. There is an effective electronic synth score which is often implemented during suspenseful sequences and adds to the distorted emotions the characters experience from the crime world. The general aesthetic of the 1960s and 1970s is captured wonderfully, with nice period costumes and hairstyles which appear to accurately reflect the film’s setting. Both female leads compliment each other well. Karole Rocher, award winning actress for her supporting role in Paris la blanche (2017), has a strong command on screen and makes for a believable authoritative figure over others. She also brings a ferocious energy and emotional vulnerability to the role, which is balanced by the elegant Garance Marillier as her right hand woman, Sidonie, whose quiet but fierce qualities are embodied well. Overall, Madame Claude delivers a mediocre biopic with a lack of focus and development needed to engage and entertain for its overloaded screenplay, but there are certainly good elements on display here which could have benefitted with being given more time to shine. #EmilyDavison Madame Claude (2021) Film Trailer:

Directed by #PatricioValladares Written by #BarryKeating #PatricioValladares Starring #RominaPerazzo #DomingoGuzman Film Review by Brandon Thomas Good old alien horror doesn’t come around as much as I’d like. Outside of the occasional Alien or Predator sequel, this subgenre is pretty much stagnant or banished to the realm of mico-budget dreck. Embryo might skirt the line of microbudget, but this eerie alien tale is anything but dreck. The bulk of Embryo follows campers Kevin (Domingo Guzman) and Evelyn (Romina Perazzo) as they venture into the woods of southern Chile. Their camping getaway turns into a nightmare after Evelyn is abducted by extraterrestrials, leaving her in a state of shock. As the effects of her alien abductors take hold, Evelyn becomes increasingly more bloodthirsty, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. Director Patricio Valladares approaches alien abduction as a blend between Fire in the Sky’s creeping dread and Cronenberg body horror. Evelyn’s descent into other-wordly terror reveals itself in visceral, extreme violence. We’re talking lots of blood and guts here. However, the explanation of her metamorphosis is kept an enigma. The guessing game surrounding the aliens themselves is left to the deepest levels of the audience’s subconsciousness. It’s an act of omission probably born out of budgetary concerns, yet it ends up aiding the film more than the filmmakers could have foreseen. Valladares throws a curveball when constructing the film’s narrative. There’s an occasional break in Kevin and Evelyn’s story where Embryo attempts to open up the world a bit more. This allows the filmmakers to weave together other tales of close encounters in this small Chilean town. Not only are the stories different, but so is the style of filmmaking. By switching to found footage, Valladares is able to emphasize suspense and dread over the fantastical gore that oozes through the main segment. Despite telling three individual tales, Embryo clocks in at a scant 72 minutes. Even with the different stories, the film threatens to run out of steam on multiple occasions. There’s a repetitiveness to the Kevin and Evelyn segment especially that starts to detract from its overall effectiveness. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there are only so many times Kevin can lose Evelyn only to find her feasting on a biker, doctor, or other camper. Embryo doesn’t quite cross the finish line at full speed, but through deft tone management and a willingness to get gross, the film leaves an overall positive impression. #BrandonThomas

★★ Directed by #BruceWemple Written by #AnnaShields Starring #AnnaShields #FrancescaAnderson Film Review by Rachel Willis Seriously, who still thinks camping in the woods is a good idea? There’s something about the woods that haunts us, so it’s the perfect setting for many a horror movie. In director Bruce Wemple’s latest film, Dawn of the Beast, it’s the ideal locale for a group of cryptozoology students on the hunt for Sasquatch. Wemple likes the creature feature – a look at his past work uncovers another film about Bigfoot (Monstrous), as well as one about the mythological Wendigo. Writer Anna Shields must also enjoy the ‘Squatch, as she not only penned Monstrous, but Dawn of the Beast as well. You’d think with two movies about Sasquatch under their belts, these two would have something new to say about Mr. Foot. And in a way, they do, but unfortunately, what they have to say about their monster is buried beneath a run-of-the-mill ‘cabin in the woods’ horror trope. There is some fun in Dawn of the Beast. There are a few jokes, characters you root for, as well as one or two you root against, but there’s also a lot of drudge here. You find yourself sitting through too much filler while you wait for the more interesting moments. Shields also co-stars in the film as Lilly, but her talents seem better suited to writing. There are some genuinely creepy moments – yellow lights (are those eyes?) drawing you into the woods, one or two effective jump scares, and some funny dialogue. And what Lilly and her classmates find in the woods is a lot more terrifying than the legendary Bigfoot. However, the film’s best aspect is – far and away – the creature effects. They add a degree of tension and fear that would be otherwise absent without such convincingly scary monsters. In some films, the addition of a monster removes the tension; seeing too much destroys the mystery. But in this case, it really works. It’s around the film’s third act that Dawn of the Beast begins to hit its stride, embracing the funnier elements and dropping the attempts to inject a seriousness to the film that it largely doesn’t need. A funny horror movie can still be scary, so anything too serious in this movie (a kidnapping, for example) is time wasted for the audience. Perhaps if Wemple and Shields attempt a third Sasquatch film, it’ll be the charm that lands them a horror film that hits all the right notes. #RachelWillis

★★★★ Directed by: #DianaGalimzyanova Written by: #DianaGalimzyanova Starring: #EkaterinaDar, #ElizavetaShulyak Film review by William Hemingway 'Nowadays it doesn't matter who's got talent. The only thing that matters is I got a million followers.' So says Murder Girl (Dar) in her most recent foray into online film-making. She's a girl on a mission, with a select set of skills, which she wants to share with us through her vlog, and which she hopes will titillate and entice us to follow her on her rise to internet stardom. She had, at first, thought about building a fan-base through beauty videos and make-up tutorials, but quickly realised that the competition was too fierce and the market fully saturated with these kinds of vloggers – so she turned to her other favoured skill: murder, or as she puts it herself as she trawls the streets of Moscow, 'slaughter'. Today Murder Girl is on the hunt for a deadly weapon, nothing as clumsy or conspicuous as a gun of course, but something with a bit more elegance and style to it; some poison vodka perhaps, or a strong rope, or a good, sharp hunting knife. So she has glammed herself up in pink fur and purple wig and has made for the Izmaylovo flea market to see what she can find. It is important that Murder Girl finds the right tool for the job as she already has a victim (Shulyak) waiting at home ready to be slaughtered for our viewing pleasure. We follow Murder Girl in faux documentary style (I resist the word mockumentary here – This Isn't Spinal Tap) as she navigates the snowy streets looking for the perfect weapon. She is our hostess and guide in this shadowy world where almost everything is for sale, to the right person, for the right price. Murder Girl constantly talks to us, her followers, through the camera and provides insightful commentary on the people and proceedings surrounding her. She is an enigmatic and charming companion who we can somewhat forgive for her psychopathic foibles and perhaps even side with as she faces resistance from the general public. It says a lot for Ekaterina Dar's performance as well as Diana Galimzyanova's direction and vision that they have managed to create such a likeable monster in Murder Girl – a true modern day serial killer. She lets us share some inside jokes as she asks unsuspecting vendors about their deadly wares and confides in us who she might like to kill next as they make it to the top of her list by offending her and getting in her way. This builds our relationship with her directly and allows us to get onside as she explains her gruesome lifestyle choices to us. What we get in Murder Girl: A True Story is something akin to Sacha Baron Cohen's best creations, most notably Borat, where everything is done with a nod and a wink to the camera. Our protagonist is a seemingly innocent, but dangerous idiot, who traps their victims into conversations of disbelief and breaks their guard down enough for them to reveal themselves. The people of Izmaylovo Market have no idea of what is taking place before them, giving the documentary aspect of the film a true to life view through its lens. Unfortunately the drama segments don't really add much but at least provide a context to the story as it progresses. There is a lot to be said about modern society and the future we are creating through our online habits just through the mere existence of Murder Girl. She embodies the voyeuristic seduction of vindictive retribution perfectly, where those with a spare minute or a spare buck can share intimately in the passions of those who are willing to do what they are not, all in the name of entertainment. If Dexter (2006-2013) taught us anything it's that we all like to see bad people get their comeuppance, and we can be sure that if the media stars of the future are anything at all like Murder Girl, then any enemies of theirs are likely to be enemies of ours and we can safely, from the comfort of our own armchairs, revel in the sharing of their demise. As Megadeth once said, 'Peace Sells – But Who's Buying?'

★★★ Directed by: Jane Stephens Rosenthal Written by: Jane Stephens Rosenthal Starring: Evee White, Austin Crist, Marcus Doyle Film Review by: Vikas Yadav Jane Stephens Rosenthal’s 15-minute (approx.) short, The Hideaway, is charged with the awkwardness of a teenager. It evokes memories of a time in your life when you were walking on the bridge connecting childhood to adulthood. The hormones affect your mood, the opposite sex adds fuel to your venereal desires, and you try to make sense of your external circumambient and the internal workings of your anatomy. The Hideaway follows one such 14-year old girl named Nika (Evee White). As the short opens, we see her sitting near the oven, waiting for the food to heat up. But it’s not just the food as there is something else cooking in her mind. What is she thinking? We don’t know. It doesn’t matter in the first place. A teenage brain runs all sorts of thoughts. She may be thinking about a crush, her classes, or any other particular event. What’s important here is that her thinking process doesn’t stop. She takes a brief pause while eating the food from the oven. A casual viewer may not see any significance here. However, this scene is important because it shows how perceptive Rosenthal is. Through Nika, Rosenthal channels the turbulence, demeanor, and attitude of a teenager with absolute honesty. The young White is game. A lot of pleasure can be derived from watching the raw performance of this actress. Look at the way she bites her lips when lost in cogitation. Or the way she hides behind the curtains before entering in front of her mother. This is the kind of act that could have easily fallen into excessive drama or a cliché. But it’s the sincerity with which this director and her star devise Nika that elevates The Hideaway. You can relate to Nika’s relationship with her mother. They are neither too close nor too distant from each other. Their feelings for one another rely on the current situation. When Nika’s mother comes home late at night and lies beside her in bed, the girl exhibits amity. When she lectures her on the boys, the mood turns into enmity. The family is under a financial strain, as evidenced by the bounced check that drives Nika to conduct theft. The Hideaway reveals its conflict when Nika is confronted by a rumor that her mother might not be a bartender as she had believed her to be. Turns out, she is a stripper. The search for truth takes her to the strip club, where we get one of the finest scenes in the film. As Nika watches her mother dancing on the pole, a continent of emotions flows through her face, her mind, and her eyes. She is confused, bewildered, astonished, stunned. She is unable to move. White doesn’t overdo her reaction, keeping it subtle enough for us to connect with her. If The Hideaway falters, it does so because these “continents of emotions” are not adequately explored. As a result, the final scene doesn’t land with the intimate intensity it aims for. What The Hideaway needs is an extended runtime to perfectly dive into its emotions and conflicts. Rosenthal is an adept filmmaker, and White is an intelligent actress. Others like Jo Jo Lam, as the cinematographer, imbues vitality within every frame. Someone should accommodate the proper budget for a feature film to this cluster.

★★★★ Directed by: #ManuelVargas Written by: #EvaAureliaGrey, #JonasOwens & #ManuelVargas Starring: #MiguelCarvajalLeoni, #ChristinaCruzRodríguez Short Film Review by Taryll Baker A heated argument between a young Hispanic couple breaks out when they find out they are expecting. Director Manuel Vargas’ grounded Argumento is a realistic portrayal of people in love and the complexities of parenthood. Maria (Christina Cruz Rodríguez) and Carlos (Miguel Carvajal Leoni) are expecting a child and they have conflicting feelings about it. Maria wants time to think it over; she currently doesn’t want the baby. Carlos, on the other hand, does want the baby. They butt heads with a very real back and forth throughout the film’s short but steady runtime, and resolutions aren’t easily made but sprinklings of mutual understanding creep in as the conversation meets its end. Something unnoticeable at first, thanks to the truly brilliant performances from Rodríguez and Leoni, is that all of the action takes place within a single shot. Cinematographer Peter Klemek follows the couple from their house, to the store across the street and back again; all while maintaining a steady hand and keeping the important subjects within the frame. There are a couple sections where cuts could have been made, but that isn’t necessarily the case for Argumento. Given the small nature of the film and it’s intimate themes, it’s quite the right choice to use such a technique to capture all the tiny moments in the actor’s delivery. The film tackles pro-choice and pro-life ideologies and does so fairly well. Rodríguez and Leoni deliver striking performances with the altering sides, they share a great on-screen chemistry and their situation is believable. As the camera follows them around, they play within scenes as if no camera were there at all. Argumento gives off a fly-on-the-wall feel, while looking more like a stage piece adapted for the screen. There are intricacies in the written dialogue, but also in the movement of characters and the camera. Vargas’ direction is fantastic, and his work alongside Eva Aurelia Grey and Jonas Owens full of life. Argumento doesn’t really have any shortcomings, at least not gleamingly obvious to the viewer. It opens up a dialogue on the rights of women and shows how important it is to allow them to make decisions, especially when it involves their body. What is nice about this film is that it also doesn’t shove anything in our faces. It brings forward a topic that’s incredibly relevant and lets us think about it. Argumento is a wonderfully written and performed film, with heavy emotion, and it doesn’t wrap everything up perfectly with a pretty bow, because hey, that’s life. Watch the trailer for Argumento below. - #TaryllBaker

★★★ Directed by: Charles Davis Written by: Charles Davis Starring: Leslie Dame, Luke Mindell. Film Review by: John McKeown Circle Film Review Shot almost entirely in New York’s Central Park, writer/director Charles Davis’ supernatural quest story centre’s on Katka, a former witch, who has to stop the seemingly all-powerful leader of her former witches’ circle from appropriating the soul of her 6-year-old granddaughter, Eleanor. The ‘Big Lady in the Sky’ is helping Eleanor, who has a serious heart condition, to die, so that she can access the girl’s supernatural power. Eleanor has ‘The Eye’ and, rather like Sauron and the Ring, she wants it to increase her own already considerable power. The wide-angle shots and intimate chat between Katka and other members of the group, Stacy, a seventy-year-old witch who has made a deal with the Big Lady which has won her eternal youth and Peter Simon, a ‘child of the slaughtered Lamb’, create a charming, timeless atmosphere of other-worldly intrigue against the everyday life of Central Park. There are some nice uses of CGI, in particular a sky-borne stream of peaceful but purposefully drifting orbs, and a powerful night scene set in Bethesda Terrace where Katka confronts the Big Lady’s second-in-command, the torch-eyed, black-gowned ‘Broozy Susy’. Another of the film’s strengths is its equivocal view of these witchy activities, which involve neither white nor black magic, but a kind of pragmatic amalgam of the two. Performances too are of a high standard, led by Leslie Dame’s Katka, whose somewhat ravaged visage is full of expressive power. While there are distant echoes of Sidney Greenstreet in Luke Mindell’s performance as the initially fence-sitting Peter Simon, who provides a sounding-board for Katka at key points in her race to outwit the Big Lady and save her granddaughter's life. But, at almost 2 hours the film is simply too long, and a less leisurely pace would certainly tighten things up. As it is Katka spends too much time marching around Central Park indulging in shouting matches with her daughter Rebecca (Eleanor’s mother) on her mobile phone. The phone calls are necessary to move the story along but actual scenes from the hospital where Eleanor has been brought with her frantic mother, or even just scenes detailing Rebecca’s state at home while Katka goes AWOL from her grand-maternal duties in the Park, would’ve been far more effective. But we only experience the real world in the first twenty or so minutes of the film, and from then on we remain in what becomes the increasingly labyrinthine world of the witches and their current spat. Davis doesn’t actually show us what’s at stake if Katka fails to stop the Big Lady, everything being relayed through Katka’s mobile and the ponderous summations of Simon Peter. At one point Rebecca is screaming down the phone at Katka, sitting among the lush leafage of the Park, that Eleanor has run out of the hospital coughing blood, and no one was able to stop her. This extremely implausible event is the point where all credibility breaks down, reinforcing the sense that whatever the witches are up to, it has no point of connection with the real world. Surely magic's whole raison d’etre is to directly, however darkly or brightly, influence the course of events? It is, and, in a movie about witches, we need to see that influence, rather than have it hermetically played out in the witches’ heads. #JohnMcKeown

★★★ Directed by: Kourosh Ahari Written by: Kourosh Ahari, Milad Jarmooz Starring: Shahab Hosseini, Niousha Noor, Leah Oganyan, George Maguire Film Review by: Jason Knight A family of three stay at a hotel for the night. Things take a sinister turn when supernatural forces begin tormenting them, turning the night into a nightmare. Babak (Hosseini), his wife Neda (Noor) and their baby daughter Shabnam (Oganyan) are Iranians living in the United States. One evening, after having had dinner with friends, they drive home. Babak had too much to drink and the satnav malfunctions, so they decide it would be better to spend the night in a hotel. Once there, they seem to be the only guests and experience odd occurrences, such as footsteps coming from upstairs, even though they are at the top floor, someone standing outside their front door and disappearing, the appearance of a child and a young woman and a black cat. The night appears to go on forever and the family appears to be unable to leave the hotel. This psychological horror film has a plot that resembles The Shining: A family of three are trapped inside a haunted hotel and witness similar occurrences to Stephen King's story, such as the spirit of a child and a dead woman in a bathtub. The narrative does a good job in building suspense and tension. Babak and Neda's lives are well explored and both go through significant character development. As the story progresses, they become more and more desperate to escape and it becomes apparent that they both have dark secrets. The performances are great by the two leads. Hosseini and Noor are very convincing as they become frantic and start to loose their sanity. Maguire makes an interesting contribution as the creepy hotel receptionist. The film has the right kind of music. Nima Fakhrara's score is tense and sinister, creating a feeling of dread, which goes very well with the atmosphere. Generally, this feature is well made, with effective directing and lighting and plenty of darkness, which is what horror films with a plot that concerns a haunted building often need. On the minus side, the pace is too slow, with some scenes lasting longer than required and the heroes spend too much time wandering around inside the hotel. As a result, the movie's duration feels too long. Nevertheless, the plot is intriguing enough to keep the audience's attention and make them want to know how things are going to turn out. #JasonKnight THE NIGHT WILL BE RELEASED ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS 2ND APRIL Trailer:

★★★★ Directed by: #JaredWatmuff Written by: #JaredWatmuff Starring: #MariaHildebrand, #PamelaJikiemi, #MichaelBlundellLithco Film Review by Lucy Clarke A clause is such a small thing. An addendum to an existing law, and anyway, who reads the small print? Yet, something as simple as a few words indicating certain exceptions can have devastating consequences. The rape cause is a small clause tacked onto a law limiting child tax credits to only a parent’s first two children. While the law is already restrictive and Victorian in tone, the rape clause is incredibly destructive. The law does not apply if the other children were a product of rape. Maybe the clause was an initial attempt to be considerate towards sexual abuse victims, but in reality, when women go through the process of securing tax credits for their child, they have to relive the trauma and describe their abuse in detail. Jared Watmuff’s short expertly conveys the destruction that this clause has caused. Angela (Maria Hildebrand) is attempting to claim tax credits for her son, who was conceived due to rape. There is only one other person in the room, Pamela Jikiemi playing the advocate. Although the advocate kindly assists Angela throughout the consultation, there’s a cloying intensity that’s inescapable. Angela is framed as though she is in a talking heads documentary; she stares down into the lens with a dull green wall behind her. The film is set up like a docudrama, but it is free of any hint of stilted staginess. Instead of simply representing the reality of this ugly law, we are forced headfirst into a deeply uncomfortable environment. Anger and sadness burn behind the scenes. But, instead of a raw awkward recollection in the small office, Angela pulls the audience down to confront her buried memories. The past and the present aren’t neatly sliced together, but the past shreds into her present. There’s a deftness to Watmuff’s command of the cinematography. Instead of showing Angela’s abuser’s face, Watmuff repeats other parts of her memory that haunts her: the emptiness of the hallway and the steam from the iron. Her traumatic past trickles into the room and slowly overwhelms her. Thankfully, her recollection of the past never feels crudely tacked on or a gimmick to be played with. Angela feels as though she is drowning, and as the audience watches, we too gasp for air. The Rape Clause is grounded in empathy and straightforward storytelling, but there’s an anger that burns and bubbles beneath and rightfully so. Even though the rape clause has been called “one of the most inhumane and barbaric policies ever to emanate from Whitehall”, it is still a functioning part of the law to this day.

★★★ Directed by: Mitoshka Alkova Starring: Mario Sant, Antoine Galea Film Review by: Vikas Yadav The joys of attending a film festival are not just limited to your introduction to talented filmmakers and their lesser-known works. But sometimes, you come across films - especially documentaries - that import you to an obscure destination and reveal facts that would have otherwise never crossed your radar. At that juncture, I think of myself as an explorer (like Christopher Columbus) who has disinterred a secret location. Anyone else feels the same way? In Melita, a 15-minute documentary from Mitoshka Alkova, the director takes us to Melita. Wikipedia informs me that “Melita was an ancient city located on the site of present-day Mdina and Rabat, Malta.” Malta derives from the word Melita, which translates to honey. And what is Malta known for? The Apis Mellifera Ruttneri, a rare species of honey bee that is native to the island. These bees are gradually and alarmingly moving on the path of extinction. If the negligence towards this species continues, then soon you will find this line everywhere, “Malta was known for the Apis Mellifera Ruttneri.” With Melita, Alkova tries to amplify the humming of the bees and the voices of the very few who are ensuring that the bees remain on the earth. The narrator informs if one were to stand silent and still, one could hear the hum. Follow the hum, and you will encounter the unsung heroes. A beekeeper named Mario Sant has been observing and studying the bees for more than 50 years. As per his views, these bees are crucial because they make the people Maltese. His expert opinion advises against the import of foreign bees. The people who are questioned in Melita perorate their concern with utmost poignancy and urgency. Antoine Galea, from Beesavers Malta, turns the pages of a 1989 book to notify us about the various rare or extinct species. “Actually cried when I read this book, it’s depressing when I see it,” he says. The immense greed mixed with the selfish quality of human beings has led to the death of many plants and animals from the environment. Alkova chooses to cut betwixt the shots of high-rising buildings, both developed and developing, and the rebuffed ruins to highlight how dismissive we can be regarding our cultural identity. As one person notes, we have become more seduced by money, giving rise to an anti-nature psyche. Like everywhere else, people in Malta are drawn towards corporate jobs rather than preserving rare species (here, beekeeping). Melita is a sad reminder of the current state of our wildlife. It urges us to stand together, like those bees on the hive frames, and save our local flora and fauna from complete eradication.