SLO FILM FEST 2021 INTERVIEWS: Shorts #2 – 7 filmmakers with truly great shorts, discuss their films, why they made them and who got them through the day

The 2021 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival knocked it out of the park with this year’s shorts and we talked to a few of them in this interview:

Keith Powell’s IN WHITE PLACES is a short film where a black delivery man encounters another black person who has moved into an all-white neighborhood and is looking very worse for wear presumably because of it. But things get strange beyond our likely expectations about what’s going on here.

Lisa Gold’s THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS is an anti-gun violence satire that delivers its message in a slyly deft manner.

Logan Jackson’s MY HERO is a drama about a single mother who makes a fateful decision to leave her two very young boys home alone to go to a can’t-miss job interview. It’s a tense build filled with dread of the worst possible scenario that could pop up blended with the joy of kids making up their own entertainment. But still, they’re alone.

Meital Cohen Navarro’s OVER MY DEAD BODY places us directly in the center of a passionately angry and fraught debate threatening to tear apart a Persian Jewish family as their daughter reveals that her fiancé is Muslim.

Allison Rich’s THE OTHER MORGAN is a dark comedy in which a woman discovers on her father’s death bed that he had a secret second family with another daughter who, on the surface, is perfectly better than her in each and every way.

Jo Anna Edmison’s STOKE CHASERS is an artistic documentary that delves into women overcoming gender barriers in surfing and skateboarding.

Richard Reens’ PANT HOOT is a touching and entertaining documentary about an African genocide survivor who has found a new life by learning to communicate with chimpanzees in their language at a rescue facility.

It’s quite a spectrum of film subjects and styles, but they share an inventiveness – both in spirit and execution – that reminded me of what is exciting about making short films AND watching short films. Whether it be catch your breath moments of emotional recognition, wry insight into our humanity, or pure delight over a genuinely funny moment or the satisfaction felt watching a short story told well, this collection of shorts (and the filmmakers who pulled them off with aplomb) excelled. And let me underline that – this collection of shorts got me excited all over again with the idea of making shorts myself.

In the interview, we talk about why these filmmakers went through the effort it takes to make any film – feature or short – in the service of something that they, in all blunt likelihood, will never make a dime for their toil. Allison and Keith talk about the challenges and benefits of directing themselves. Finally, I ask each filmmaker to give a name check or shout out to a crew or cast member who was a true lifesaver to either getting the film made or having it turn out as well as it did.