I love the short films each and every year, and I try to watch as many of them as I can when the shortlist comes out. This year 9 of the 10 shortlisted short documentaries were available on various streaming platforms before the list was narrowed to the final five. I have no quibble with the choices here. My pick to win is The Hunger Ward, which is made by an Iowan filmmaker and shines a light on the human side of the tragedy of the war in Yemen. The viewer sees little beyond the clinics and hospitals set up to care for starving children, but there are glimpses of both the war itself and the effects of it all on every living generation in Yemen right now. My second choice in this category, which is really neck and neck with my first is A Love Song For Latasha, a really beautiful bittersweet tale of who Latasha was before a woman in a Korean grocery gunned her down, one of a seires of things that led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Do not miss this one. Do Not Split is an up close look at the street demonstrations in Hong Kong before COVID shut the whole thing down. You can just see that there is a lot more to be lost, that China is on a collision course to break one of the treasures's in its crown because it can, regardless of the consequences. Colette is a sad look at WWII, as those who lived through it are dead and dying. A young graduate student studying the French Resistance goes to a camp with the sister of a man who died there. Once again, I am struck by the institutionalized cruelty of the Nazis. A Concerto is a Conversation is a tribute of a young black musician and composer to his grandfather, who escaped the Jim Crow south and made a living as a dry cleaner, starting in the laundry and rising up to own the whole thing, a man bursting with pride at his grandson's accomplishments. It is a well rounded group, and try to see them all.
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