This one comes to us from Rutger Hauer’s Filmfactory, his annual master class: the short drama Nightshift.

Synopsis

An aging television reporter, seemingly at the end of her rope, finds new hope to live in an unlikely place.

Review

I hesitated to review a short from Filmfactory. They are all student short films made under the watchful eye of Rutger Hauer and a team of industry-hardened veterans in a very compressed amount of time. Some of them don’t turn out so well. Okay, a lot of them don’t.

But that’s not the point of Filmfactory. The point is to get a film written, shot, and edited in quick span. Many of the students I’ve seen in the documentaries get flustered or panic. Gaelle Denis didn’t seem like she had much to worry about.

For all the rush put into Nightshift, it turned out amazing. I found myself coming back to this particular one because it was a visual story told so well. The story is sparse on dialogue because it doesn’t need it. Everything that is said is done so from the actions (or inactions) of the actors. Just a glance from one to the other, or holding of hands tells you more than whole pages of expository blabbering ever could.

What did you think of Nightshift? Please leave a comment below.

Information

Genre: Drama
Country: Netherlands
Release Year: 2008
Runtime: 7 min.
Director: Gaelle Denis
Cast: Georgina Verbaan, Hugo Metsers
YouTube Channel: FilmfactoryShorts