The Salutes Your Shorts block for this year at the Chattanooga Film Festival is fantastic. There are shorts that deal with some heavy stuff and thankfully they’re intermixed with some irreverent shorts as you can have a breather between them. The block has nine movies that are Reklaw, Am I The Tub?, Wild Card, Dirtbag, 54 Miles To Home, The Drowned, Ursula, Break Any Spell, and Cruise. All of the shorts are amazing but I’ll only mention a few.
Am I The Tub? is a weird fun short that deals with existential questions and the ongoing pandemic. It has one of my favorite lines: “Trees don’t poop, they exhale.” and it made me laugh out loud as soon as I heard it. It speaks to the experience some of us have had the last few years without getting too serious or heavy.
54 Miles to Home is a powerful piece. Its about the families that were involved in the Montgomery to Selma march. It was about the three families that owned the land where the marchers camped. It feels even more powerful with everything that’s going on around the country.
Ursula is a surreal short that has weird moments of comedy. I don’t want to say too much about it as to not spoil it, but the leads have such a lovable awkward chemistry that you smile when they interact. Martin Starr and Hannah Heller are delightful as the leads.
All of these shorts are fantastic and should be watched, either individually or as part of the block.
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