Night Shift
2012 · 14m · New Zealand
Directed by Zia Mandviwalla
Genres: drama
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
Salote, a Pacific Islander woman working as an airport cleaner in Auckland, keeps her head down through a long night shift, gleaning her survival from what others leave behind. As the night unfolds, her closely guarded personal circumstances gradually come to light.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Auckland airport cleaner, Pacific Islander woman, observational restraint with information withheld. Fourteen minutes. Mandviwalla works the verité-with-backstory mode that can be heartbreaking or sentimental in equal measure. The premise has dignity at least.
A precisely observed character study of immigrant labour and invisible endurance, selected for the Cannes Short Film Competition and Sundance, with a lead performance of considerable restraint and authority.
Zia Mandviwalla building emotional weight through observational restraint — Salote's circumstances disclosed only after the audience has attached to her dignity. The withholding IS the form.
Festivals
- Festival de Cannes 2012
- Sundance Film Festival 2013
- Show Me Shorts 2012, Best Film, Best Actor, Best Screenplay
- 24fps International Short Film Festival 2013, Grand Jury Silver Medal, Best Actress