By Clayton Barnett of Show Me Shorts
In honour of Valentines Day, this month Clayton Barnett from the Show Me Shorts team shows his romantic side with these three short films about love in different guises. The films include popular rom-com Digits (about a socially awkward fish enthusiast) from the 2015 Show Me Shorts programme, and Dotty, an award-winning short from local filmmakers Mick Andrews and Brett O’Gorman. There are stories of young love, the search for love, and the love for a fellow human being, all offering a unique perspective on how we handle affairs of the heart.
Digits
Finding love these days is a hard task, and when you’re missing the last two digits of a phone number from a romantic encounter you’d do anything to track them down. Featured in Show Me Shorts last year, Digits is a cute and quirky story of one man’s devotion to make a connection. Actor Antonio Campos is great and totally relatable as the lovable loser too.
Writer/director Alexander Engel (This Is It) has a real knack for comedy, mixing humour and heart and some clever pieces of ‘plenty of fish in the sea’ symbolism. He’s also a canny editor; with just one man and one location he makes a visually entertaining and pacy short. He’s now developing a webseries called Dilemma.
Love is In The Fair
Love is In The Fair is a short documentary about young love in America, from the creative collective known as the Bitter Southerner. The filmmakers interview a range of young teens courting each other at Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair in North Carolina. Dealing with puberty, pimples, growth spurts and braces, these Romeos and Juliets are full of hope and hormones as they navigate the fair’s attractions. A fascinating and sweet insight into American youth, it’s good to know in the online age old-fashioned courtship still exists.
Dotty
Love comes in many forms and Dotty is a heart-warming tale from local filmmakers Mick Andrews and Brett O’Gorman. Dotty lives in a retirement home and is having technical trouble texting her daughter and a caregiver tries to help but her patience is humorously tested. In her first big-screen performance 90-something Joyce Irving gives a moving central performance, with great support from Alison Bruce.
Having previously worked together in theatre and comedy, Mick and Brett hit the ground running with their first short, collecting seven awards for Best Short Film at festivals around the world. They’ve crafted an effective bittersweet short with a strong story. Keep an eye out for their second short Ron, starring Andy Anderson.
