Living Reality
New/Next '23 + '24
•
Short Films, 27-May-2025
An exploration of the emotional divide between fiction and reality in the American sitcom. Philip Thompson’s “Living Reality” puts the peculiar form of sitcom into perspective when a character shows strange symptoms and signs of longing. The spoof TV-show, also called “Living Reality,” starts and moves as if it were a carbon copy of a 1990’s late night series. There’s eye-rolling riffs and cheesy one-liners, but something appears to be off when a character named Theo, played by Thompson himself, begins to sneeze and cough loudly. Continuing with the flow of the show, the other characters don’t show an interest in the strange behavior. Theo heads home to a mood significantly more grim than the colorful backlot. Laid out on his mattress, he flickers the TV on to a sequence of distorted textures and fleeting moments. The creation of a fake sitcom show is entertaining and a production feat in itself but Thompson goes further by subverting the medium, as he did with his previous short, “I’m at Home,” which we featured in 2023. -JM. Director: Philip Thompson. Producer/Director of Photography: Aidan Cronin. Producer: Desirée Tolchin. Cast: Sam Wallington, Simon Rabatin, Ruby Harvey, Spencer Evett. Production Design: Olivia Acuña. Set Construction: Joe Esposito. Sound Recordist/Designer: Jack Liden.
Up Next in New/Next '23 + '24
-
People Person
A lonely chatterbox, fed up with the anti-social nature of the world, seeks to find himself a friend at all costs. Set in sunny Los Angeles, “People Person,” directed by Taylor Thompson, is an upbeat character study looking at social connections and interpersonal expectations. Immensely desperate...
-
Ladies
Ruby has what seems like a sex dream about her best friend but can't tell if it actually happened. Allison Bunce’s “Ladies” is a 16mm drama observing female friendship and the intimate moments of a low-key bachelorette party weekend. Cheese boards and glasses of white wine spread across the kitch...
-
She Sings
When a woman retraces the steps of a recurring dream, it reveals a fractured sense of self. Lily Ekimian Ragheb and Ahmed T. Ragheb direct “She Sings,” an experiential account of immigration and the blurred sense of belonging that follows. From murmurs in Arabic to reflections in English, Aziza r...
