Bond on Cinema

Why Tamika Lamison's SUPERMAN Short Film Breakdown is a Game Changer

Ladies and gentlemen, SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL is an emotional coming-of-age story set during the 1970s Atlanta Child Murders. The film takes us through the eyes of 8-year-old Harriet, who is as fascinated with superheroes as is her older brother Jackson. However, when they experience a troubling series of events that impact their family, leaving emotional scars and causing them both to grow up fast, they must redefine their definitions of heroes, villains, themselves- and yes- even Superman.
This short film, SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL for me is finding the hidden jewel amongst the hundreds of Oscar-qualified films this season. If you haven’t seen it you have got to see it. I encourage all the Academy members to take a serious look at this film.
The storyline brings so much for us to explore. I call it perfection. The cinematography captures the 1979 time period to again, perfection. Not one detail was missed and being one who was born in Atlanta, the location and decor took me back to my own grandparents home. I’m from the Dunwoody area of Atlanta, so the moment I saw the homes, I was back in the 70s again.
I will say it again and again, SUPERMAN DOESN’T STEAL is the hidden jewel in the midst of the Oscar-qualified chaos. I loved every single minute of it.
About the Guest
Writer/director and filmmaker extraordinaire, Tamika Lamison graduated from the American University, Howard University and is an AFI alum of the prestigious Directing Workshop for Women. She was a research consultant at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, prior to being tapped as the Executive Director of the Commercial Directors Diversity Program - a DEI program she built for the DGA & AICP. 
She has won numerous honors, awards and fellowships including IFP’s Gordon Parks indie film award, ABC/Disney Screenwriting Fellowship, CBS Director’s initiative and others.
Tamika has produced 4 Award winning shorts and over 100 short docs via MAFF. She was also a writer and supervising producer for the television show “Monogamy”.
#superman #atlantachildmurders #shortfilms #shortfilm #oscars #academyawards #screenwriter #filmdirector #filmmakers #filmmaking #atlanta #childhood #parenting #comicbooks

Oscar-Qualified Short THE HEART OF TEXAS: Interview/Film Breakdown with Director Gregory Kasunich and Actress Lauren Noll

Ladies and gentlemen, the Oscar-qualified short, THE HEART OF TEXAS is about an aspiring country singer Janie May (Lauren Noll) who races to the studio after her overnight diner shift when she collides with an undocumented worker — changing the course of both their futures.
This is a film in the art of storytelling. Mirroring the lives of two people who are chasing the American dream, one an aspiring singer dreaming of stardom and an undocumented worker whose dream is to provide a better life for his family who is still living in Mexico. Their lives collide, leaving one dying to make it and the other dying to survive.
This film is compelling, tense and heartbreaking. 13 minutes and 56 seconds that will leave you on the edge of seat and your heart in your hands.
Writer/director Gregory Kasunich and producer/co-writer and actress Lauren Noll and their powerful and compelling Oscar-qualified short THE HEART OF TEXAS.
Director and co-writer Gregory JM Kasunich is an award winning filmmaker. His body of work includes projects for Taylor Swift, The Pentatonix, The Summer Set, DreamWorks, Disney, Lucas Film and many others. His editorial and portrait photography has been published in several publications. His films have been nominated and awarded in festivals all over the world.
Lead actress, co-writer and producer Lauren Noll is a filmmaker with a Master’s Degree in Acting from Harvard University. Her curiosity around other roles in filmmaking led her to write, direct, and star in her first award-winning short film, HONOR in 2020, a personal drama about the encounter of a queer student with Brigham Young University’s honor code office.
She followed that filmmaking debut with GEN V, CLEAN SLATE, which was awarded a grand jury prize at the Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge, and THE HEART OF TEXAS, which has won over 20 awards.
#shortfilms #shortfilm #oscars #academyawards #americandream #landofopportunity #filminterview #filmreview #filmbreakdown #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #actress #immigrant #musician 

Oscar-Qualified Short DECK 5B - Interview with Malin Ingrid Johansson: Interview/Film Breakdown

Ladies and gentlemen, Malin Ingrid Johansson’s Swedish short film drama DECK 5B tells a heart-rending tale about a mother torn between duty and desire. We meet recently divorced Mia, portrayed by award winning actress Alma Pöysti, along with her son, as she heads for her first holiday together with her new love, but complications soon arise when Mia’s yearning to relax and let her hair down comes into conflict with her parental responsibilities.
This gripping short premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival where it claimed the Best International Short Film award, thereby qualifying it for the 2025 Academy Awards.
The storyline and the cinematography causes you to focus solely on the relationship of the mother and the son. We are draw into both of their emotions, and the dilemma of the mother.
The cinematography and the coloring play a part in this film as it does seem a bit cool and drab, as the relationship being the mother and son is not exactly a happy one. The mother tries to bring joy, but the son reminds her of his disapproval in both words, action and emotion.
DECK 5B is a must see short film and it has all the elements that make it worthy of being Oscar-qualified. 
#oscars #academyawards #Sweden #Swedishfilm #ferryboat #filmmaking #filmdirector #filmdirector #screenwriter #divorcedmother #singlemom #relationship #vacation #parentalresponsibility

In-Depth Film Discussion with Writer/Director Todd Komarnicki and his new film BONHOEFFER

Ladies and gentlemen, the untold story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. as the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Bonhoeffer is swept into the epicenter of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. With his faith and fate at stake, Bonhoeffer must choose between upholding his moral convictions or risking it all to save millions of Jews from genocide. Will his shift from preaching peace to plotting murder alter the course of history or cost him everything?
BONHOEFFER comes to a theater near you on November 22nd and this is a must see film. We need more films like this one that showcases men and women who will stand up and face adversity. We can all learn something of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and maybe one of those questions we should all ask ourselves, “Where is your finish line?”
About the Guest
Todd Komarnicki is a prolific writer, producer and director of film and television as well as an acclaimed novelist.
Todd's screenplays include Sully directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Tom Hanks, which opened at #1 in the box office to rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. The film went on to earn over $240 million worldwide, and was a 2016 AFI Top Ten Film. The Professor and the Madman, starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn. Komarnicki has also written Perfect Stranger starring Bruce Willis and Halle Berry.
Todd Komarnicki and Guy Walks partnered with Jon Berg to produced the Christmas blockbuster Elf, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Jon Favreau, which has become a yearly Christmas movie favorite.
Todd is here to talk about pastor-turned-spy Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This untold story about a man as the world teeters on the brink of annihilation, Bonhoeffer is swept into the epicenter of a deadly plot to assassinate Hitler. The film debuts during Thanksgiving this year.
#bonhoeffer #newfilm #filmbreakdown #featurefilm #anglestudios #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproduction #belgium #ireland #WWII #drama #pastor #spy 

TJ O'Grady Peyton's Endearing Oscar-Qualified Short ROOM TAKEN: Interview/Film Breakdown

Ladies and gentlemen, TJ O’Grady-Peyton’s short ROOM TAKEN follows Isaac, who, in a desperate need for a place to stay, finds an unexpected answer to his temporary homelessness when he takes refuge in the home of Victoria, an elderly blind woman, without her knowledge. As these two strangers coexist, a touching and unexpected bond forms between the unlikely pair.
I can see why this film is a multi-award winning short film. The cinematography is excellent and gives you the true reality of both characters lives. Composer Jamal Green sees beyond the characters and brings forth a rhythmic music score that dances between two different worlds that collide out of an unknown need for each other.
ROOM TAKEN is one of the most endearing and beautiful stories I’ve seen this year and actually left a happy tear in my eyes. Keep your eye on this Oscar-qualified short film.
Director TJ O’Grady-Peyton, an Irish filmmaker who first gained recognition at the Young Director Awards at Cannes in 2013. He has received awards at prestigious festivals and films have been showcased at Tribeca, Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London, and on Disney+ and The New Yorker. His short film WAVE won an Irish Film and Television Award in 2018 and SILENCE earned a nomination in 2021.
TJ’s newest short film, the beautiful and endearing ROOM TAKEN tackles pressing themes including the challenges faced by asylum seekers and the rising homelessness population in Ireland. Not only that but it also shines a light on the growing epidemic of isolation and loneliness in the elderly communities, especially those that may find that their independence is being threatened, by old age or disability.
ROOM TAKEN has been selected for over 39 Film Festivals, and has won 10 awards, including “Best Irish Short Film” at the Dublin International Film Festival, and nominated for “Best International Short Film” and “Grand Prix Irish Short Film” at Flickerfest and the Cork International Film Festival.
This poignant short has qualified to be considered for the 2025 Academy Awards after winning “Best Short Film” at the 2024 Cleveland International Film Festival. 
#oscars #academyawards #shortfilms #shortfilm #roomtaken #ireland #immigration #elderly #interview #filmbreakdown #filmreview #filmmaking #filmmakers #filmdirector #cinema #cinematography #Cannes #BFILondon #Dublin #corkireland #flickerfest #filmfestivals 

The Making Oscar-Qualified Short TEA with Director Blake Rice: Interview/Film Breakdown Discussion

Ladies and gentlemen, in an homage to everything 1990’s, TEA asks the audience to take a step back to simpler times; where the summer days were long, the cool kids were terrifying and saying “hi” to the girl of your dreams was beyond insurmountable.
This dramedy short film TEA takes us through the eyes of Nicholaus Steep (played by Michael Gandolfini), we watch the tenderness and bravery of a young man who is doing all he can just to connect with someone. When his bad luck turns worse, will the girl of his dreams (played by Olivia Nikkanen) will she be able to save his life?
This film will take all of us back to the time we asked someone out on a date, our first date most likely. Some of us are shy, insecure, nervous, but somehow the experience isn’t always fun or enjoyable.
For us guys, just getting someone to say yes feels like we just made it to the top of Mt. Everest.
TEA is a wonderful film. A short filmed in one location, gives us the look and feel of real film. The story is to the point adding in youth, the pursuit of young love, it’s endearing, and all of that disrupted by a hornet’s sting.
Who knew that an EPI-pen could not only save the day, but bring Nicholaus’ crush into his life.
In a world of worry, insecurity and a lack of confidence and courage, we need to heed the words of Olivia, “That wasn’t so hard was it?”
About the Guest
Writer/director Blake Winston Rice, an award-winning director who launched his professional directing and screenwriting career in 2018 with the film TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, which was acquired by DirectTV.
Follow up projects included PEOPLE LIKE YOU, where he received Best Director at the New York City International Film Festival in 2019. Soon after, he directed THE CREEPERS CURSE, and THE RECOVERY CALL, both licensed by Prime Video in 2020.
After numerous short films over the past few years, he brings us the endearing dramedy, TEA. The short premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as the only U.S. film. It has qualified for Best Short Film at the Nashville Film Festival, as well as Woodstock, Palm Springs and HollyShorts Film Festivals. It is now Oscar-qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards.
#oscars #academyawards #cannes #shortfilms #shortfilm #filmmakers #filmmaking #filmdirector #filmproduction #screenwriting #lovestory #dating #relationship #filmfestival

Oscar-Qualified Short MEAL TICKET: Would You Choose Morality or Opportunity: Interview/Film Breakdown with Wes Andre Goodrich

Ladies and gentlemen, MEAL TICKET is an anxiety-filled  thriller about a manager: Saint, who is forced to decide what to do with life-changing news he receives about his client: a young hip hop star, twelve minutes before goes onstage for his debut tour.
In this world we all seek opportunity, but what if your meal ticket was threatening your big break or your current job? Will you do what is morally right or will you protect your opportunity of future success? Wes Andre Goodrich gives us a poignant short film to ask ourselves this important question.
This film leaves the audience choosing sides and that’s the power of film. Is there a right or wrong answer here? Only you can decide that when you see this Oscar-qualified film for yourself.
Brooklyn-based writer/director Wes Andre Goodrich. Last year he was on the festival circuit with two shorts: SPEAK UP BROTHA! and PALM SUNDAY.
He recently directed the short film MEAL TICKET for Hillman Grad’s Rising Voices Fellowship, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and was part of the official selection at HollyShorts. Wes was selected by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the 2023 New Faces of Film.
MEAL TICKET was made as part of Indeed’s Rising Voices program - an initiative set up to discover, invest in and share stories created by BIPOC filmmakers and storytellers. Rising Voices was created in collaboration with Lena Waithe, Hillman Grad Productions, Ventureland and 271 Films.
#shortfilms #shortfilm #oscars #academyawards #morality #opportunity #hiphop #performer #cinema #cinematography #storytelling #screenwriter #risingvoices 

BAFTA/BIFA Qualified Hilarious Short TWO MINUTES with Jamie Benyon: Interview/Film Breakdown

Writer/director Jamie Benyon and his BAFTA and BIFA-qualified short film TWO MINUTES.
His screenplays have won the IMDb Script To Screen Award, Top 10% on the Coverfly comedy short film list, been shortlisted for BBC Comedy Writers Programme, and a semi-finalist in the Shore Short Script Competition, a quarter-finalist in the Screencraft Fellowship and Top 40 at the UK Film Festival.
Jamie Benyon’s short titled TWO MINUTES, is an endearing short film comedy and I love it. Starring Ted Lasso’s Annette Badland, and Samuel Bottomley from How to Have Sex and Sundown as well as Ashley Margolis from Brassic and Silent Witness.
TWO MINUTES won First Prize for Best Comedy Short Film at Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival, and Best British Comedy at Discover Film Festival. It's also an official selection at this years BFI London Film Festival, as well as premiering in Canada at the Oscar qualifying Edmonton International Film Festival along with many BIFA qualifying films across the UK.
Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie Benyon’s anxiety-filled endearing short film TWO MINUTES left me wanting more and more. Following the death of their Grandfather, two brothers decide to rob a convenience store in which they have two minutes to grab what they can before the police arrives. But their Nan unexpectedly walks by creating more tension during their attempted heist.
Everyone who has the opportunity to see this film will fall in love with TWO MINUTES. All I want to see is more of these three characters as I think there is either a streaming series or a feature film within this film. Could Nan become a ringleader in a family-based crime syndication of bubbling wannabe robbers? Only Jamie Benyon knows the answer to that.
#shortfilms #shortfilm #comedy #BAFTA #BIFA #BFILondon #interview #filmbreakdown #caper #filmmakers #filmmaking #filmdirector #screenwriter #awardwinning #cinema #cinematography #family

Director Rachel Annette Helson's Oscar-Qualified Short GOOD DAUGHTER: Interview and Film Breakdown

Ladies and gentlemen, GOOD DAUGHTER is a short film about a small-time con artist ripping off elderly dementia patients by pretending to be their daughter - until the con catches up with her.
They say you can’t con a con until the con becomes overwhelming and learning the con is starting to con you.
GOOD DAUGHTER has all the elements of the makings of a feature film as I want to see more of Samantha Sloyan’s character Rebecca. So much more to explore here and it seems we will all soon see it play out.
Film director Rachel Annette Helson's  feature film directing credits include "The Engagement Dress”, "How to Live Your Best Death" and "The Girl in the Window”. Her 2019 short film "Hatched" played at festivals across the US, and in recognition of her work, she was named a New Director to Watch by Shoot Online Magazine.
As a character-driven director, Rachel is heavily influenced by her acting background. Select credits include: "Full Circle" directed by Steven Soderbergh, "The Knick," "Law & Order: SVU," and the Netflix film "The Polka King”.
She also holds the distinction of being the Youngest Producer in Broadway history to be Nominated for a Tony Award for her work on Neil LaBute's "Reasons to be Pretty". 
Her 2023 short film "Good Daughter" starring Samantha Sloyan from "Midnight Mass” and "Grey's Anatomy" and written by Jesse Harris of Marvel's "Jessica Jones" played as an Official Selection of HollyShorts, Centre Film Festival and Catalina Film Festival (Best Actress Nomination, Samantha Sloyan) and is being developed into a feature to be shot in 2025.
Her Oscar-qualified short film GOOD DAUGHTER, a small-time con artist rips off elderly dementia patients by pretending to be their daughter - until the con catches up with her.
#oscars #academyawards #shortfilms #shortfilm #conman #writer #filmmakers #filmmaking #filmdirector #screenwriter #motherdaughter #alzheimers #dementia #filmfestivals

Oscar-Qualified Short SUNFLOWER with Polish Director Mateusz Balcerek: Interview/Film Breakdown

Ladies and gentlemen, SUNFLOWER was inspired by the true story of Danuta Górecka, Mateusz Balcerek’s grandmother. This film tells a gripping and inspirational story of a family’s perseverance in the face of unspeakable violence.
In a war-torn country, young Danuta and her family play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with soldiers. Amidst the chaos, Danuta finds comfort and hope in a sunflower that connects her back with her loved ones.
Set in 1944 Poland ravaged by war, this beautiful short captures the vulnerability of a child lost in the violence of war and the beauty that exists in the smallest things — such as a sunflower, which symbolized not just survival but acted as a thread that tied her back to her loved ones. The film has qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards.
SUNFLOWER is an incredibly beautiful short film. The cinematography has a beauty that stands out among many of the Oscar-qualified films this year. The story moves from frame to frame with grace, yet captures the tenseness and sadness of the realities of war.
To keep this film as authentic as possible, 1940s Poland songs were used, but the sound mixing and sound editing is one of the best I have heard in any short film. Nothing was missed in the creation of this film SUNFLOWER. It absolutely deserves to be Oscar-qualified and only time will tell to see if this beautiful film makes the shortlist.
Polish filmmaker Mateusz Balcerek is a Forbes 30 Under 30 lister, is known for blending deeply personal stories with universal themes. As the Founder of Sounds Better Productions, with offices in London, Warsaw, and LA, he leads the company in producing premium content across scripted series, feature films, and unscripted shows. His previous work includes the Spectrum TV documentary "Cerro Gordo" in 2020, along with professional experience at Norman Lear’s Act III Productions and Bob Shaye’s Unique Features.
#oscars #academyawards #polish #poland #shortfilms #drama #wardrama #WW2 #filmmakers #filmmaking #filmdirector #cinema #cinematography #filmcomposer #soundmixing #filmcolorist #sunflower