It’s a rough week for new releases by women, but thankfully Max (formerly HBO Max) is releasing a number of Latina-directed short films. There are a few different services that have been good about including short films.
OVID TV might be the best choice. It’s built around genuinely independent work (instead of studio “indies”).You don’t see it included in this series often because their feature-length films usually go through other services first. It features a huge number of short films, though. There are many different niches served there. One I know well is dance shorts, where it excels.
Max itself is pretty good on short films. It lined up a number when it was HBO. It remains to be seen whether their new ownership will keep this up under the merger, but with this week’s new entries, its short programming seems to be going strong.
MUBI is a little difficult. Built around film history, it includes a number of short films. The selection tends to deep dive into specific directors and draws from around the globe. The one thing I’ll say is that it leans toward male directors. Many women are represented just from the sheer scale of the content they have, but in terms of ratio it definitely leans even more male than most services. It’s a great service for finding short films from throughout the history of the medium; it could still do better on other fronts.
Finally, Netflix isn’t necessarily great about putting its short films forward, but they are there on the platform. Many of these come from Netflix’s own programs, where they fund short films in order to build relationships with new writers and directors, and to test out film concepts in short form before deciding whether to go larger with it. It takes what writers and directors have always done on that front – the short proof of concept – and puts it in-house. Between those programs and Netflix’s sheer scale, you can find a lot of short films there. Just be aware that the bulk of them will be recent – the opposite of the MUBI approach.
Let’s get to this week’s Latina-directed short films on Max. They include:
Olivia De Camps’ “Chico Virtual”, in which an immigrant tries to navigate their status on his own when his brother fails to come home.
Yessenia Sanchez’s “Double Cultura”, where 12 year-old Marisol must be the bearer of bad news as her mother’s translator during a medical emergency.
In Zahida Pirani’s “El Carrito”, a street vendor named Nelly makes a risky business decision that ends in disaster.
Maria Mealla’s “La Macana” follows a recently divorced couple who come together to support their daughter when she gets her first period.
Mariana Serrano’s “Un Pequeno Corte” finds six year-old Elizabeth struggling between the beauty standards of two different cultures and facing backlash she doesn’t understand.
There’s also Kryzz Gautier’s “Keep/Delete”, and “Thank You, Have a Nice Day”, which have less information out about them.
In terms of new shows and movies, it’s a week with just one new entry:
NEW MOVIES
A Thousand and One (Amazon)
directed by A.V. Rockwell
A mother kidnaps her son from the foster care system, attempting to acclimate him to a New York that’s constantly changing under their feet.
This is the first feature-length film from writer-director A.V. Rockwell.
“A Thousand and One” is on Amazon.
Take a look at new shows + movies by women from past weeks.
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Gabriel Diego Valdez 