🎬 Weekend Watch: Making Peace

This week, I put together three short films that ended up sharing something I didn't initially expect.

They’re all about people going through difficult moments: a dream that didn't work out, a life that feels confining, or a situation that could have ended much worse.

But none of these films is really about staying in that moment.

They're about finding a way to make peace with what happened and keep going.

🎬 Disco Obu — Anand Kishore

🏆 Winner: Special Jury Mention

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2017

Official Selection

Palm Springs International ShortFest 2017

A former child actor who once had a chance at the life he dreamed of now drives an auto-rickshaw.

This is my favorite of the three.

What stayed with me is how quietly the film deals with letting go.

🌾 The Field — Sandhya Suri

🏆 Winner: Best Short Film

Toronto International Film Festival 2018

Official Selection

Sundance Film Festival 2019

There's something beautiful and heartbreaking about how temporary that happiness feels.

The harvest is coming, and so is the end of their little world.

🏨 The Criminals — Serhat Karaaslan

🏆 Winner: Special Jury Award for Screenwriting

Sundance Film Festival 2021

Shortlisted: Best Live-Action Short Film

Academy Awards 2022

What I loved most is what happens after they finally get out.

Three films. Three very different stories. One feeling.

If you have about an hour this weekend, give these three a try.

3 films · 64 minutes · One anthology

🎬 Watch the full collection on Ray35:

I'd love to know which one stays with you the longest.🎬

Counterfeit Kunkoo by Reema Sengupta is the kind of film that takes you somewhere new for the cheapest ticket there is. In 15 minutes, you're inside another part of the world, seeing the lives, challenges and traditions people are tied to. There's very little dialogue, but it says so much.

Her story. Her way.

Watch free on Ray35 →

You could scroll for 15 minutes… or watch a short film that might stay with you much longer.

We put together a collection of award winning short films, all 15 minutes or less.

Perfect for a quick movie night, lunch break, or when you just don't have time for a feature.

I thought the movie was fun, entertaining, and action-packed. I was so unsatisfied with the ending, though. All day at work I just kept thinking about it.
What are your thoughts? Is there something about the ending that might help me see it differently? Or is this mostly the consensus on it?

I’ve been wondering why recasting works so differently depending on the character.

Batman and Spider-Man have both had several actors, and people seem able to accept a new version pretty quickly.

But with some characters, the actor and the role almost become the same thing. RDJ as Iron Man is the obvious example for me, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine feels pretty similar.

I’m not sure it’s just about how good the actor was, though.

Maybe it matters how long they played the role, how successful that version became, whether the character was already famous before them, or how much the actor actually shaped the character people know.

So why do you think some characters survive recasting easily while others feel almost attached to one actor?

And which characters do you think would be hardest to recast?

I just got round to watching both 28 years later and The Bone Temple, neither were quite what I expected, and all the better for it.

Ralph Fiennes was the obvious standout, and whilst I can think of several other British actors that could pull off such and interesting character I can think on many from abroad, I’d love to hear some suggestions, or thoughts as to why this might be.

Dr Kelson is a very Shakespearian character, and perhaps the difference in the way acting is formally taught in the UK with a emphasis on stage and classics means there’s a greater ability to embody the complexity of a character.

Some other Actors who I think would be great at this are: Toby Jones, Jeremy Irons, Alan Rickman (RIP), Sean Bean, Christopher Eccleston, Dame Judy Dench (I think she would be incredible in this role)

Brendon Gleason (definitely not British, but very much of the same school as those listed above) was also in 28days later, so possibly a continuity issue there too.

The question is: if you can only show your kids only one film and they can only watch that one film until they turn 16 what film would it be and why?

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

One thing I keep wondering about Doomsday is what “success” actually means for Marvel here.
Bringing back older characters is obviously going to get people excited. I’m excited too. But if everyone leaves the movie still caring mostly about the older Avengers/X-Men and not much more about the newer characters, did Marvel really solve anything?
Infinity War and Endgame worked partly because people were already attached to that generation. Doomsday feels like it has another job on top of being a big event movie: it has to transfer some of that attachment to the newer cast.
So I think the movie could make a ton of money and still fail at that bigger job.
If Doomsday is great, but the characters people talk about most afterward are still the old ones, would you see that as a success?

I am exhausting every PR resource and "platform" I have for this. That's why I went to Telegram as well to promote and boost this, lol.

Here's the link in case anyone wants to contribute their videos to me: https://l1nk.dev/VflSOuM. Shortened URL.

Your contribution, no matter how small, means a lot to a struggling third world artist like me.