Sound Visions offers eight shorts from Washington State filmmakers in Seattle International Film Festival’s ShortsFest.
Welcome back, shorts lovers! It’s been a few days since I’ve highlighted a SIFF Shorts package (after Opening, WTF, and Family)! But I’m not done yet! The Sound Visions shorts block highlights voices from around the Puget Sound (the large body of water connecting Seattle and Tacoma to the Pacific Ocean, for you non-locals). Over 102 minutes, these 8 short films range in style and substance. Six were available for review. If the other two become available, I’ll update.
Best of Luck (6, dir. Alex Benson)
I loved loved loved this. Drawn with simple line animation on a black background, Best of Luck is a cowboy musical of an android adapting to life in a wasteland. Funny with an amazing soundtrack, humming it for a while. Simple, hilarious, and ear-catching.
Dick’s-A-Thon (18m, directed by Dylan Young)
Seattle is the only place where “go eat a bag of Dicks” is a positive statement. So, to these marathoners – go eat a bag of Dick’s. The burgers that is. Seattle’s cheap and hits-the-spot burger joint (much better than In-N-Out, fight me) is the basis of a few-year-old tradition: running a full marathon while stopping at the 5 central Dick’s locations. (see dicksathon.com). A great slice of hometown oddity, or working through a great tradition, one with a sadness attached to it.
Diwata (15m, Dir. Shea Formanes)
Our past haunts us, as noted with an 80-year-old Filipino grandmother looking for answers to moving on from the continuing sting of the drowning of her granddaughter. She visits the lighthouse and beach where the incident occurred and searches for closure, which involves some solid prosthetics on the titular spirit. A diwata is a Filipino spirit of nature, btw. Touching and heartfelt with a great look.
Fitted Sheet (5m, directed by Celia Beasley)
A quick and dirty (or clean, since we’re folding) short of a man going through the struggle we all have… folding a fitted sheet. Very funny and ever so relatable, a nice simplicity.
Horse Fly (14m, Dir. Alex Park)
Not available for screening. Looks to be a poignant sci-fi of the last human controlling a drone system during a war, looking at how dealing with screens and tech.
Katya (14m, dir. Timofey Pozhitkov)
A drama of a split family and national ties; a homewick Russian woman debates whether to take her daughter home, while her ex-husband would not want this at all. Honestly, it’s fine but not entirely my bag, so it didn’t do much for me. 
Late Shift (8m., Dir. by Britta Johnson)
A sharply written and performed two-hander of a potter and her apprentice. I loved the history and emotions pushing through the dialogue and the small actions that inform.
The Road to Plan C (20m, dir. Morgan Dukes)
Not available, but a road trip of outsider students on the scratch from Plan B. I assume we look at reproductive rights and working as one.
Final Thoughts
SIFF is a great place to see great shorts. And Washington is a great place to make them (I know so many, such as Amie in the WTF block and otherwise). Sound Vision is always a treat; this year is no different. While this set has passed, keep an eye out for the shorts elsewhere and see www.siff.net/festival for more SIFF26 goodness.