I'm Short, Not Stupid Presents: 'Voice Over'

Having won 44 awards and been selected in 80 festivals, Martin Rosete’s short film Voice Over obviously has something going for it. It’s not your typical short, and with a budget of $100,000, it shouldn’t be. Voice Over tells the story of… or more accurately, the disembodied voice of Féodor Atkine tells the story of three men, who might be the same man, all played by Jonathan D. Mellor. You see the three men stuck in extremely tense and similar situations, which all have dire consequences. If that seems confusing, don’t worry. The structure of this stylish allegory may be complex, but it tells one of the simplest and most human of stories.

Some people seem to get perverse satisfaction from making their lives difficult, just to see if they can push and overcome their boundaries.  Director Martin Rosete seems like one of those men, and he succeeds beautifully. He ambitiously set out to make a film that’s as difficult to capture as the trials his characters must endure. The short opens with a desperate space pilot, who has been jettisoned from his ship after crash landing on an alien planet. To make things worse, one of the local creatures has crawled inside of his suit and is getting frisky with his nutsack. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the pilot has three minutes and 33 seconds to get back to the ship before he runs out of oxygen. As the details of doom build, the stark beauty of the locations and cinematography keep you glued to the screen. The film starts to shift at this point and since the action is driven exclusively through voice over it is prone to the shifting sentiments of the narrator. The narrator describes vast, dark, and beautiful scenarios, but never seems to get the story right—until he seals it all with a kiss. I don’t want to give too much away, so do yourself a favor and spend ten minutes with one of the most-lauded short films of 2012.

Originally from Madrid (1980), Martin Rosete shot his first 35mm film, Revolution, at the age of 21 and won more than 50 international awards in film festivals. He studied audiovisual communication at Madrid University, directed actors at the Cuba Film School, attended the First Talent Campus of Berlin International Film Festival, and earned an MFA in the US. After shooting commercials and more short films, he is now preparing his first feature film in the US. Voice Over was written by Luis Berdejo.Voice Overwriter Luis has obtained huge international success with horror movies like: REC and REC 3 Genesis. Watch a making of Voice Over here.

Jeffrey Bowers is a tall mustached guy from Ohio who's seen too many weird movies. He currently lives in Brooklyn, working as an art and film curator. He is a programmer at the Hamptons International Film Festival and screens for the Tribeca Film Festival. He also self-publishes a super fancy mixed-media art serial called PRISM index.

Previously - A Chjàna