Home Away
2018 · 11m · Canada
Directed by Hannah Yohannes
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, family
Tones: contemplative, tender
An 18-year-old who decides to keep her pregnancy is disowned by her family and moves into a youth shelter, where she learns a new meaning of family from strangers.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise reads like Hallmark until you realize the film is actually interested in the texture of survival over sentiment—but it still doesn't quite escape the gravitational pull of its own uplift, which is probably why it works and also why it bores me slightly.
Yohannes positions herself thoughtfully within the lineage of intimate family portraiture, and the shelter sequences have a observational restraint that recalls early Ken Loach; the editing particularly honors negative space and the weight of ordinary conversation.
What catches is the sound design in the shelter scenes—the specific acoustic texture of communal living, voices overlapping without sentimentality—and one or two reaction shots from the lead that do more work than any monologue could, suggesting Yohannes knows exactly where to point the camera and when to trust silence instead.
Festivals
- Issa Rae Presents: Short Film Sundays 2018, Featured Selection