Lucy and David's 8 year relationship has survived a distance of 2700 miles, but the events of one night tests their decision to stay together. Director Allegra Oxborough has crafted a complex and remarkably realistic docu-fiction drama about a long-distance relationship, equal parts sensitive, blunt, and heartbreaking. Starring the real-life couple, Renee Starr and Aaron Rice, “Distance” maneuvers with a light but sure-handed touch, intoxicating in its ability to capture private conversations with dead-on accuracy. For 5 months now, Lucy has been living in New York, and David in L.A. They subsist on daily Skype sessions, which are starting to feel more like an obligation. While on one such call, David responds to a text he gets from another woman, rankling Lucy (“how hard would it be to put it aside for the 15 minutes we can look at each other?”). He apologizes, but there’s a deeper issue that’s not going away. That night, both partners go out with other friends, and new questions enter the picture, about boundaries, about monogamy, about the generally delicate nature of human beings. For a film about the interminable back-and-forth of our wants and needs, the film is impressively concise. What could easily have been a feature film packs its punch in 22 minutes and with that, Oxborough has made an impressive first narrative film.

Directed by Allegra Oxborough. Writers: Allegra Oxborough and Daren Sprawls. Starring Renee Starr and Aaron Rice. D.P.s: Catalina Ausin, Diana Ecker, Maria Rusche and Corey Waters.