Benjamin, Benny, Ben
2020 · 8m · Canada
Directed by Paul Shkordoff
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tense
A Black Canadian man prepares for a crucial job interview, but after tripping and falling on the way, must decide how to present himself — and which name to use — in a society that will judge him on arrival.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A Black Canadian man choosing which name to put on his job interview. Eight minutes. The systemic-anxiety-as-bureaucratic-decision concept is sharp on paper — and Shkordoff has the festival pedigree to suggest it lands. The risk is didacticism; the framing suggests restraint.
Paul Shkordoff encodes a full racial-systemic anxiety into the bureaucratic act of choosing a name on a job application — a small, precise object whose restraint is the argument.
The sound design does extraordinary work — the ambient world grows louder and more distorted as Benjamin's anxiety spikes, externalizing an internal state through craft rather than dialogue.
Reviews
Wow that was such an effective way of presenting anxiety.
Festivals
- Cannes Film Festival – Short Films Competition 2020
- Toronto International Film Festival 2020, Best Canadian Short Film
- Telluride Film Festival 2020