DRIFTERS
2015 · 16m · USA
Directed by Anu Valia
Tones: humorous, melancholic
A short film exploring the basic human desire for purpose through the perspective of a struggling actor, starring Sarah Goldberg alongside Peter Grosz and Jim Santangeli.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Valia's observational precision is already on display here — three years before Lucia, Before and After would win Sundance, she's doing the same thing with actors that film does with a woman in a waiting room: watching without judging. Sarah Goldberg is luminous.
Sarah Goldberg in an actor-finding-purpose short. The premise is the genre trap; the cast is the only reason to give it a chance. Special Jury at New Orleans is a tepid endorsement.
Anu Valia grounds the actor-finds-meaning trap in observable behavior so specific it reads as anthropology — Sarah Goldberg's performance does the rest. New Orleans Jury Prize earned.
Festivals
- New Orleans Film Festival 2015, Special Jury Award
- Northside Film Festival 2015
- Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2015, Best Experimental Short
- NewFilmmakers NY 2015