Posted by kinnon in This morning we watched Short Term 12, a film by Destin Daniel Cretton, produced by Michelle Steffes – both filmmakers with strong connections to the Windrider Forum. Though Michelle and Destin had chatted briefly before last year’s Windrider Forum @ Park City – they became friends at that event when both showed their short films. Michelle showcased her short film, Driftwood. Destin and Lowell Frank’s Deacon’s Mondays was shown as part of the Angelus Award Winners evening.
This year, Short Term 12 was one of 5600 entrants in the Sundance Shorts program. It was one of 96 shorts chosen to be premiered @ Sundance and one of the 10 recognized at the Sundance Short Film Festival Awards last night – it was the winner!
Brad William Henke (Choke, Sherry Baby, World Trade Center) is Denim, the supervisor for a residential facility housing 15 kids who are all affected by child abuse and neglect in unimaginable ways. Inside the gates of Short Term 12, awols and fights and restraints happen every day and Denim knows how to respond. But as his personal life collides with work, he begins to realize that he is no better off than the kids he’s trying to help.
Shot entirely on location at the MacLaren Children’s Center in Los Angeles, the film places viewers within the walls of a real facility and lets them feel what it’s like to live and work in a place where hope is often difficult to find. An all-star ensemble cast radiates in this gritty and honest look at how human beings, no matter the age, inevitably impact each other.
As I said to Destin and Michelle before we interviewed them here @ Windrider, the film really “messed me up.” It is powerful and very well done. Not the usual cinema fare for 10am in the morning – but one well worth seeing. And further proof of the good things coming out of relationships expanded by Windrider.
An interview video with Destin and Michelle should be up on this site in the next few days.
Note: Parts of this post are crossposted @ kinnon.tv
Make a point of reading Jason Coker’s comments on Sundance and the Windrider Forum.
thanks for the great post Bill! What an exciting day for the Windrider Community. We are all very excited and proud of our Windrider alums….the sky is the limit with these talented artists.
Jp