2021 Directed by Samira Saraya, Peier "Tracy" Shen …
An omnibus film featuring nine works by emerging filmmakers of color, Who Will Start Another Fire is the inaugural project of Dedza Films, a distribution initiative focused on showcasing underrepresented communities and the next wave of international storytellers.
My campus theater showed this and I wanted to go in to a film where I had absolutely zero expectations and got to see some names I’d never seen before. After watching it I’d be very surprised if we didn’t see some of these names again on bigger projects a few years down the line. All 9 of the films presented here are overflowing with nothing but serious talent and extreme creativity that really makes you hopeful for the future trajectory of the industry.
If I had to pick a favorite it would be the 7th film in the anthology “The Rose of Manila” directed by Alex Westfall. This film is an imagining of the childhood of Imelda Marcos, a…
Just relogging to let all of you know that this is now on the Criterion Channel. Everyone go watch it or I will hunt you down
Didn't love every short (the weakest for me probably being By Way of Canarsie), but the ones I loved (the top standout in that department absolutely being Not Black Enough), I can't stop thinking about
A lot of talent showcased here that I think more people should keep an eye on, and I can't wait to see what Jermaine Manigault and Peier Shen in particular do next
Happy the Criterion Channel did an annual subscription sale right before my payday so I could not feel guilty about spending for once, happier still that this was the first thing I decided to watch after pulling the trigger on it
A diverse look into short films from different places in the world. Each one had its own unique flavor that made each of them feel special in their own right. They all had their own flavor and focuses, with some more focused on telling a story and some focused on aesthetics over all else. Some of these could easily be fleshed out into longer pictures, but the short runtime keeps them tight and avoids ever overstaying their welcome. The quality of each short was inconsistent though, with some being a lot stronger than other ones. None of them were totally bad in any sense, the format just doesn't lend itself to consistent quality. My personal favorites were Like Flying, The Lights Are On No One's Home, and Rose Of Manila.
"Who Will Start Another Fire: Sobering Yet Profound"
By Veronica Wang
“By unearthing stories neglected by mainstream Western media, the filmmakers of Who Will Start Another Fire explore new narratives in a collection that is sobering yet profound.”
