short film

If You Like It Then You Should Be Able to Put A Ring On It

admin — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Adorable, DIY-style animation and quirky music start off this excellent and important film about marriage equality in Ireland. Cara Holmes and Ciara Kennedy cut and paste stories, images, protests, and facts into a clever, witty, and purposeful narrative.

Voice-overs and interviews are illustrated and screened, intercut or overlaid upon footage from rallies, photo montages, and title cards (which have a very on-trend hand-drawn look). These touches make the film more accessible and adhere to the filmmakers’ established aesthetic. I really respect the directors’ decision to use this style–it actually underscores the gravity of the issue. It’s a very watchable, warm, and likeable documentary, and will have wide appeal.

Full disclosure: I met Cara when we were both booked at Ladyfest Berlin a few years ago, and her band wrote a song about my zine. A couple of years after that, we were both on the bill at Ladyfest Cork, which became the hen do before my UK civil partnership with my wife Sarah. Sarah and I actually staged a mock wedding as part of our comedy show at the festival, using vows rewritten to address the illegality of our marriage in Ireland. We met with MarriagEquality, who were tabling at Ladyfest, and took badges back for our friends to wear while preparing for our ceremony in the UK. We knew some bills were being proposed, and things were looking pretty good in Ireland at the time–like this issue was moving ahead.

When I saw If You Like It Then You Should Be Able To Put A Ring On It mentioned on a friend’s Facebook page, I immediately recognised Cara’s name and followed the link to the film. I felt really frustrated as I began watching; Ireland seems to have come no closer to legal and financial equality for queer couples who wish to marry.

Here’s a quote from one of the on-screen title sequences early on in the film:

In 2005, it was argued before the High Court that Katherine and Ann Louise had a constitutional right to equality: a right to marry, property rights, and family rights. They also argued that the failure to recognise their marriage breached their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. To date their marriage is still not recognised. On Feb 23, 2007 the case was appealed to the Supreme Court. There is no known timeframe for the Supreme Court hearing.

If You Like It... goes on to introduce couples who’ve married elsewhere, shows footage from protests and rallies (including some awesome placards!), interviews representatives from several marriage rights organisations, and manages the difficult task of presenting different viewpoints (civil partnership as a stepping stone to full equality vs. ‘separate but equal’ compromise) toward a common purpose remarkably well. It also puts the campaign into the larger context of queer rights around the world generally, and provides links in the credits to the organisations and artists who contributed to the film.

The pace of the film is quite inspiring–it builds to a climax that offers hope to the queer community, and should galvanise new allies into action. In the end, I was heartened by both the message and its style of delivery.

The case mentioned above is still pending, and a civil partnership bill is working its way through the Irish government, but it’s a slow process. Major props to Holmes and Kennedy for helping speed things along with this outstanding short film.

Written by: Chella Quint, June 26th 2010

Lizzy the Lezzy

admin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:01:00 +0000

By Ruth Selwyn

Sundance Channel

To celebrate Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, the Sundance Channel has released five digitally animated Lizzy the Lezzy short films featuring the irreverent stand up comedy and musical humor of their title character. Who is this Lizzy the Lezzy – besides an Internet and television phenom who’s been featured on AfterEllen.com and Logo TV’s Alien Boot Camp? Well, as she puts it: "I’m Lizzy the Lezzy and I am a dyke." (I guess it’s okay when she says it.)

For your information, she also goes by “muff munching freak,” among other deceptively self-deprecating labels. In reality, lesbian pride is her thing. If you’re not shy about lesbian, gay, or heterosexuality, you’ll want to check out Lizzy’s films as soon as possible for a good laugh or two…or nine (I counted). Even though Lizzy uses these often disparaging labels to identify herself, she quickly dispenses with the formalities and basks in happy banter about the joys of being a lesbian, and the joys of sexual intercourse between all people: "Love is bi. Love is queer. Love is shoving things in your lover’s rear." But also: "Love is for all wherever you are."

Whether she’s lamenting the fact that women aren’t allowed to walk around with bare breasts exposed in most industrialized parts of the world—something people of both sexes and most sexual orientations might complain about too—or the unfortunate smallness of the out and proud lesbian community, Lizzy is a cute, singsong-y presence of simple animation who makes for a good few minutes of enlightenment here and there. Accept her humor or don’t: it’s unapologetic and refreshingly matter of fact, even if it doesn’t cover any new turf. Though Lizzy has a tendency to sexually objectify women—admittedly so—she also professes to love women in their natural glory; some of her comic stints are as much celebrations of womanhood as they are lesbian identity.

Two things that might alarm some viewers are Lizzy’s high-pitched voice and childlike appearance; she somewhat resembles an extra from an episode of South Park. This demeanor aligns nicely with the open-minded awe and wonder Lizzy employs to examine the world around her, and allows for her witty stand up to seem fresh. She’s not a child, though she is somewhat babyish, and those who find the likes of South Park difficult to stomach are hereby cautioned to stay away.

Fans of The L Word will want to seek out Lizzy’s shorts that critique and celebrate the show and its characters. Even though she can’t remember all the lyrics to the show’s theme song, it’s fun hearing her take on its mainstream, Hollywood-packaged lesbian ideals. The Lizzy the Lezzy digital shorts were created by Ruth Selwyn and can currently be viewed online at SundanceChannel.com and LizzytheLezzy.com.

Written by: Rachel Moehl, June 23rd 2010

Bye Bi Love

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Directed by Giovanna Chesler

Bye Bi Love is a short film about a woman named Vera who receives a wedding invitation from her ex, and has a decision to make. Ticking this box is answering the most loaded question ever, and the reasons for this become clear as Vera’s story unfolds in a series of flashbacks depicting scenes with her current and former partners, all in the same apartment.

Stylistically, it’s a rondo, which is really nice to see executed on film so sophisticatedly. It’s easier and more expected in classic stage drama, but whoop, there it is in 2010, which makes a linear story more cyclical, and shakes up the viewer with suspense and familiarity at the same time. I didn’t even think suspense was possible outside of a Hitchcock thriller, but director Giovanna Chesler repurposes both of these storytelling tools in a more naturalistic narrative, and nails it.

Lots of queer people of colour are represented here, positively or incidentally (points scored for both). Attitudes to commitment, marriage, and breakups bear the brunt of the bitterness, and, although the word "bi" is in the title of the film, there are no specific jibes about or plaudits for bisexuality, and there are hints of parents approving of their children’s same-sex relationships. The apartment is as much a character as the characters are, and it reflects the style of the film itself: minimalist. Every person and prop has a reason for being there, and the film is as well crafted as the stylish setting.

It looked great, and felt pretty good too. Watching it was like mainlining gossip without the guilt: I cringed at Vera’s situation (no “plus one” on the wedding invitation you send your ex? Damn!) while she remained none the wiser. But I was distressed to realize I couldn’t comfort the characters either. They weren’t real—they were over there on the screen doing uncanny impersonations of my friends, and in some ways, me. The ending was completely and utterly satisfying.

Find it. Watch it. And look out for Giovanna Chesler’s next big thing, because it’s gonna be awesome.

Written by: Chella Quint, June 22nd 2010

Fucking Different: Tel Aviv

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Directed by Kristian Petersen

Filmproducktion

Fucking Different: Tel Aviv is the third installation of this international collaboration of visual storytelling, starting first in Berlin and New York City in a sense similar to Paris Je T'aime_and _New York, I Love You. Now, while I have not seen the previous two iterations, please allow me the privilege in speculating that Fucking Different: Tel Aviv may certainly be one of the bests in the romantic short film collection genre. The fifteen directors' short films together illustrate a beautiful panorama of diversity in myriad forms within a thriving and vibrant Middle Eastern and Mediterranean metropolis. They shed light on a host of issues such as the Right-Left divide in Israel, dealing with coming out, first love, ideas of masculinity and femininity and Judaism and homosexuality.

Tel Aviv has been called the “mini-Los Angeles” of the Middle East, but L.A. is a place that many say “no one comes from, rather they go to,” but the people in Fucking Different: Tel Aviv are fully present in the times that all residents of Tel Aviv are shaped by. In the first short story entitled “Political Sex”, two new lovers, Yossi and Tzuf must decide whether to be pragmatic or passionate when the discussion turns to politics. In this short piece we see that the gay community is no less driven by a right-left partisan divide. What ensues after said discussion is some visually enthralling sex. This is another reason why this documentary is appealing. These shorts do not conceal or shirk away from what, in reality is everyday life, rather they reveal the ordinary struggles of people who refuse to be ordinary.

Another poignant moment is found in the short containing the story of Emmanuel and Brigitte. We are introduced to a man applying makeup and discussing how Brigitte came to be and how she represents his identity as much as Emmanuel. The waters get even deeper as the story progresses. We learn that Emmanuel performs the oboe for the Tel Aviv Philharmonic and that had he not had that same courage to first perform as Brigitte at a local club, he may not have ever had the courage to reach for his dream and apply to the very competitive Berlin Philharmonic.

“Gay men after being called a 'sissy' or 'faggot' when they are young become fearful of their own femininity...” "Emmanuel/Brigitte" connects seamlessly with the knowing histories of every gay man who was called such names, myself included, when he uttered such a painful truth. The story of some gay adult men is the story of not just helping friends and family become comfortable with something that may be “foreign" or "different” to them, but also becoming comfortable within your own skin and learning to celebrate it, just as Emmanuel and Brigitte do.

Fucking Different: Tel Aviv mixes epicurean delights with sapphic ecstasy and has some of the most scintillating lovemaking between beautiful people while keying you into the notion that there are also some gays who don't fit the stereotype. They would be just fine with a night watching an entire season of Absolutely Fabulous rather than having sex. Make it Battlestar Galactica or Fringe and I'd probably give the same answer. Maybe it is my love of the diversity of a metropolis or simply my lust for Jewish men, but after screening this collection of short films I was ready to book the next flight to Tel Aviv.

Written by: Brandon Copeland, December 29th 2009

What Makes Me White

admin — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:07:00 +0000

Directed by Aimee Sands

In America we have seen a lot of victories in the battle against racism. An African American leader in the White House is a prominent sign of this progress. However, we still have far to go.

The recent arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Gates has made many rush to judgment saying he is using the “race card” to dismiss any wrong action he may have taken during the incident. On the other hand, some are calling the actions of the police officer overtly racist. Accusing either side of using or dismissing race is an easy way out of a difficult discussion. Thus, this news story provides an example of how society still has more work to do regarding racism.

What Makes Me White, a short film by Aimee Sands, presents the audience with a lot of questions and anecdotes about race and our places within the complex issue. It attempts to reveal the subconscious biases that we—all of society, but especially white America—have been taught to conceal and repress for the greater good. But what good is denying bias when it turns up in our actions and thoughts anyway?

The film features interviews with people recalling their experiences with race, including when they first became conscious of its existence. White people in the film tell stories about recognizing their own prejudices and learning about the prejudices of those around them. Susan Brigham, co-founder of Wayland Diversity Network, recalled when she first began to see her housekeeper as more than just a housekeeper. Unfortunately, this recognition didn’t happen until the woman’s funeral. This experience encouraged her to begin looking at diversity and establishing connections with people of all backgrounds.

I commend the list of people that were interviewed for the film. One such person featured is Peggy McIntosh who wrote the oft-cited essay "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." McIntosh imparts excellent insight into the concept of White privilege, which the film is steeped in. It recognizes that White people don’t have to think about the reality of being White. When we wake up, most mornings we face the world as a "normal" person, not specifically a White person.

Concepts and ideas about race given during the interviews are punctuated by narratives by the filmmaker about her own experience of being White and how she was trained not to speak about race. Through the artistic visuals and narration, the audience can feel her genuine thirst for understanding.

My main criticism of the film is that it doesn’t push far enough. It does start the conversation about race and allows White people to begin the process of acknowledging their relationship with race, but more needs to be explored. The film speaks mostly to upper middle class educated White populations, in particular those living in the northeast. A broader audience should be asked these same questions and brought into the conversation.

Perhaps, this film is the first of a series. Talking to average Americans of all ethnicities across the geographic boundaries of the US would bring another dimension to this relevant topic. We all want to believe this issue is behind us and that there isn’t discrimination in the actions of leaders and neighbors, but the truth is murkier, and prejudice does exist, even in the most empathic people. It’s hard to admit our bias, accept our experiences, and celebrate differences, but we must do all these things in order to get to the finish line in the quest for equality.

Written by: Andrea Hance, September 20th 2009

She Likes Girls 4

admin — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 17:18:00 +0000

Directed by Various Directors

Wolfe Video

She Likes Girls 4 is a hilarious compilation of eight short films on various ways in which girls like girls. Topics center around gender, childhood innocence, homophobia, and presumptions. _Babysitting Andy _directed by Pat Mills is a humorous short about a nine-year-old brat who tortures her wheelchair-bound uncle and his partner into schooling her on the definition of fellatio. She has overheard the term being used by her parents, but concludes that she wants nothing to do with it, and confesses she may lesbian.

In No Bikini, directed by Claudia Morgado Escanilla and written by Ivan Coyote, a young girl decides to go topless while taking swimming lessons for six weeks. Unbeknownst to the swim teacher and her classmates, the girl competes as a boy and ends up with the medal for fastest swimmer. When her mother reads a letter that constantly refers to her daughter as “him,” she realizes how the young girl betrayed the two piece.

Another favorite, Don’t Mess With Texas, directed by Carrie Schrader and Tricia Cooke, conjures up all the preconceived notions of the Lone Star State with the presumptuous behavior of a lesbian couple. The couple thinks they are rebelling against homophobia in a small town diner only to find out that their waitress is having trouble with her presumably chauvinistic male partner. When the lesbian partner comes in to apologize to her waitress girlfriend and saves the other woman’s partner from choking, the couple realizes what type of setting they are in.

_She Likes Girls _is a thought-provoking, entertaining compilation of short films worth watching again and again.

Written by: Olupero R. Aiyenimelo, September 14th 2009

Girl + Girl: Classic Lesbian Short Films

admin — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:48:00 +0000

By Various Directors

Wolfe Video

Reviewing a diverse film collection that includes a variety pieces can be a tricky task. This has certainly has been the case for reviewing this collection of lesbian short films. The DVD features a range of lesbian shorts produced between 1988 and 2003 in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. The collection not only spans periods where lesbian filmmaking was not accessible to the wider public, but includes a range of culturally diverse perspectives on filmmaking, art, and the representation of lesbian life in cinema.

From a historic perspective, the collection is interesting and enlightening; it includes classic coming-out stories like Cheryl Farthing’s Rosebud (1991, UK) as well as the film festival favorite Maid of Honor(1999, USA), two short films that represent one aspect of the development of lesbian filmmaking in terms of topics covered and also appeal to a broader audience. From a purely entertainment driven perspective, not all of the films included in this collection are easily accessible. I struggled with the quirkier films where stories and images get lost in the films’ focus on artistic merit.

But as much as the diversity of the collection presented a challenge for writing a cohesive review, it also meant that I could skip ahead and get lost in an absolute masterpiece that is included on this DVD: Canadian director Leah Pool’s Rispondetemi (1991) is the life story of a woman as it flashes before her eyes in fifteen minutes while she is rushed to the hospital after a car accident. The film not only highlights themes, images and perspectives that return again in Pool’s later work such as Lost and Delirious, but also represents fifteen minutes of gripping, breathtaking cinema. This short film alone turns the DVD into a must have collection for anyone who enjoys the kind of dazed and confused (or should I say lost and delirious?) state of mind after having watched a truly amazing film.

Written by: Annette Przygoda, April 27th 2009

No Country for Young Girls

admin — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:26:00 +0000

Directed by Nupur Basu

Life on the Edge

No Country for Young Girls is a twenty-five minute question posed to India: "How can this country move forward while there is still profound gender discrimination against females?"

Director Nupur Basu introduces twenty-seven-year-old Vyjanthi, a mother of a three-year-old daughter. When she becomes pregnant with another girl, her husband and in-laws pressure her to an abortion. She flees to her parents’ house to weigh her options. Should she leave her husband and raise her daughters on her own? Or should she go back to her husband and accept that India is not a country fit for a mother to raise daughters?

Vyjanthi begins a journey to explore her country, its cultural and religious history, and what other Indian women who live in different regions of India have to say about her dilemma.

No Country for Young Girls is a startling contemporary view of the oldest prejudice in existence: boys more valued and valuable than girls. While sex-selective abortion is illegal in India, the numbers do not lie. In some regions of the country, there are a far greater number of boys than girls being born. The prevalent practice of selective abortion is leading to an imbalance of boys and girls living in India and, many predict, is heading for an unknown but monumental crisis. Girls’ worth is measured in the form of dowries, and infanticide reinforces that gender discrimination is still very much alive in all parts of India.

Vyjanthi takes her story of in-law harassment and unfairness to strangers in faraway corners of her country and finds she is not alone. She meets women in high executive positions, other mothers, regular citizens in discos and informal meetings. All of them raise different points, but all of them agree that India is still outdated in their thinking about gender. No Country for Young Girls asks many important questions, almost too many for such a brief film, that have no resolution or finality.

While the short film is not as engaging as one would hope and the journey for Vyjanthi seems a bit contrived for the sake of making a short film, the issues raised are still very much worth exploring and the reality of gender oppression in present-day India, and this film lays the issues bare for the world to see and debate.

Written by: Lisa Factora-Borchers, April 11th 2009

New York City Secrets / Secrets of Early U.S. History

admin — Sat, 12 May 2007 17:20:00 +0000

By MS 131

Working Playground

I would have appreciated a one sheet of sorts to go along with New York City Secrets, as I wasn't really sure what it was about. It appears to be a short film with young people singing a rap song about different kinds of facts, secrets and things to do in New York City. There were some interesting graphics and information, but I am left wondering who the intended audience for this is. It was strange because I wasn't quite sure why they made it. It seems to be part of an educational series, but I wondered where it would screen, how it was funded and what the young people creating it got out of it.

Secrets of Early U.S. History was in the same style as New York City Secrets. The music is good and the facts are interesting, but they are just snippets of information followed one after another. That concerned me because I don't know how much audiences will absorb from the messages about people and events in history. I think the best result this film could have with audiences is to incite interest in exploring history and to get people excited about learning more. The computer animated graphics were engaging and fun. The students who worked on this did an excellent job with the parameters they had in terms of length and format.

Written by: Katy Otto, May 12th 2007

The Hollywood Machine

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:39:00 +0000

Directed by Ishmael Klein

The Hollywood Machine is similar to an op-ed: it may make the writer feel better, but chances are it will never get noticed. And if her message is heard, it will be by those sympathetic or already in agreement with the meaning. This is the message the artist is sending. Those in Hollywood have the power to keep the nonconformist voice out, and, as independent films conform more to mainstream ideals, it’s harder for something new and challenging to break through.

This three minute short film is Ish Klein’s vent against those who would seek to keep independent ideas out of conventional media. With angry overtones, the filmmaker’s rage is balanced by childlike puppets with sweet voices. Quirky and abstract, _The Hollywood Machine _is an account of frustration as Klein hits her head on the filter lens of movie making.

Much like the glass ceiling successful women face in real life, the male-controlled mainstream movie world keeps feminist ideas and opinions to a minimum - only letting in those ideas that don’t challenge the norms and comfort zones of the powerful. The Hollywood Machine tells this truth that will probably never be heard.

Written by: Elizabeth Ordonez, March 21st 2007

Cantankerous Titles and Obscure Ephemera, Volume 1

admin — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 19:08:00 +0000

By Joe Biel

Microcosm Publishing

This DVD of short documentaries by Joe Biel was probably the best thing that’s come in the mail for me this month. I mean that; I don’t even get a lot of bills! Maybe, as someone who enjoys interviewing people, I am a bit biased, but I really enjoy the subjects Biel presents, as well as the way personal commentary figures in, yet is not contrived.

Among them, Martinis In The Bike Lane is probably the highlight of the collection: a short about the improvisational graphics in Portland’s “bike only” lanes, and the crew who made them. Of Dice and Men explores the competitive world of the board game RISK among anarchists and college students who would normally consider themselves rational, anti-imperialist and non-competitive.

Although a really good concept, the interviews - with women about their interactions with family members and men who seem to change faces when playing the game might be of interest to those exploring, but it goes on for a bit too long (almost forty minutes). Also noteworthy is the tongue-in-cheek Central Kansas: Canvas Central, about patches as media and the punk relationship with them. It’s really worth checking out, especially for fans of Christy C. Road or Aaron Cometbus.

Written by: Janine Ohnoski, March 20th 2007

The Journal of Short Film: Volume I: Fall 2005

admin — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 12:42:00 +0000

By The Journal of Short Film

The Journal of Short Film: Volume I is comprised of nine films that range from traditional linear narratives to non-narrative explorations to one that calls itself “improvised cinema.” The journal, which was founded to expand the forums available for talented, new filmmakers to showcase their work - much the way writers and poets have literary journals - has grown to include the release of five additional volumes and another in progress.

Many of the films in the premier volume center on interpersonal relationships and intrapersonal struggles. Heidi Mau, the Don Delillo of short film, asks us to examine how we construct our memories in hindsight of events within a visual-media saturated world. Potter-Belmar Labs’ new genre piece reveals the slight of hand tricks used to sell us everything from refrigerators to war. And Jonathan Brough asks us in “No Ordinary Sun,” a film of apocalyptic proportions about a multi-generational father-son relationship, to consider what moments in our lives are lost at great speeds.

While the journal is not specifically feminist many films collect moments of women’s lives into visually stunning narratives, like “Post-Partum,” whose long, still shots and white noise of water sounds lure us into the beautifully told story of the director’s personal history, and “Gravel,” whose mother-daughter tensions play out against the angst of youth and the anxieties of adulthood.

Similar to literary journals, The Journal of Short Film is not for everyone. While viewers may sit well with the brief but haunting “Long Struggle,” a documentary of two Shoshone sisters who fight the government’s claim of eminent domain, movie fans might be challenged by the experimental videos that largely compose the volume’s latter half. Fortunately for film aficionados, anyone likely engrossed discussing Anna Nicole Smith while waiting in line for tickets to James Cameron’s latest won’t be on the list of the journal’s subscribers, a sure sign that this film journal deserves two thumbs up.

Written by: Lacey Dunham, February 28th 2007

The Journal of Short Film: Volume V

admin — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:26:00 +0000

The Journal of Short Film

Every film in this volume is so impressive, so full of the detail and thought that makes a film not just good or even great, but f*cking phenomenal _that it’s difficult to say anything more than _just buy a subscription already. But because I have a word requirement to fulfill, I’ll expound a bit.

The growth of maturity in the quality and storytelling of the films featured shows that the trajectory of The Journal of Short Film is an upward path of a serious film journal with serious talent. From the funny tale of a shoplifting child to a Lynchian-style short about self-sustainability on an increasingly unsustainable planet to an adolescent girl secretly glimpsing her sister’s vulnerabilities, Volume V is a range of documentaries, personal narratives, and historical reflections that travel our memories and identities to ask us who we are and what shaped us into the creatures reflected back in the mirror.

In “Grand Luncheonette,” Peter Sillen reveals himself as the Studs Terkel of film in a moving documentary about the effects of gentrification in New York City’s Times Square. The cinematography and rhythmic narrative in “The Legend of Black Tom,” about a black champion boxer, purposefully masks the more chilling subtext that our construction of history from unreliable memories, especially with influences of nationalism and race can cause us to remember things that never even happened, as Phillip Hastings chronicles in “Reveries From Cistae Memoria.” When filmmaker Sara Zia Ebrahimi documents her travels to Iran to find herself, her origins, and a relationship with her father, she says “I found humans who were flawed like any others,” a reminder, especially with our current state of affairs, that the people we arm against us because of our foreign policy are really the people we become. Hope Tucker touches on this theme with her look into the historical context of a popular American holiday standard written as a “prayer for peace” during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Finally, Joel Fendelman’s “Band of Sisters” recounts the April 2004 pro-choice rally March for Women’s Lives in Washington, DC and captures the emotions of women and men on both sides with such immense poignancy and beauty that I have never been more proud to be a feminist.

While I found Jennifer Levonian’s “You, Starbucks” too short to adequately settle into before its abrupt end, the outstanding selection of Volume V, with a big turnout from Temple University folks, outshines any disappointment her oddly placed film carries and seems more like an unfortunate addendum than anything else. With beauty and poignancy, Volume V outdoes itself in a collection where every film is simply astounding.

Written by: Lacey Dunham, February 13th 2007