Raquel Stecher

Kingston, SXSW and Kino Lorber Haul

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on and the number of deaths rises, we’re quickly becoming numb to the tragedy. We have to remember that the people who’ve died are not just statistics. They were individuals with friends and families, with hopes and dreams. These are people who still had a life ahead of them only to have it ripped away by the virus.
Director Emily Shir Segal brings one story to light with her four minute short film I think it’s enough, isn’t it? She narrates the story of how her...

Nadav (Ben-Oved Berkovich) is reeling from a bad breakup with Neta. Seeking solace, he meets up with a former lover, Amit (Harel Glazer), whom he hasn’t seen in a while. Their reunion is raw and intense. Any feelings they have for each other must be kept secret. The next day Nadav and Amit pretend like nothing happened and Nadav has to decide what to say to Neta.
Directed by Daniel Bloom, Inside the Storm is a quiet and spare short film about the decisions we make during times of heightened e...

“Reparations for slavery hasn’t happened yet, but if it were to happen, are we ready to make demands that include systematic change?”
Director Symone Baptiste
Director Symone Baptiste’s short film Sixteen Thousand Dollars imagines an America in which black people have been paid reparations for slavery. $16,000 in fact. Brother and sister Brodie (Brodie Reed) and Ellington (Ellington Wells) have received their checks in the mail. Ellington has big plans for her $8,000 check (a half payment bec...

Dale (Dale A. Smith) visits the local pharmacy in his small town to chat with his buddy Mohammad (Mohammad Dagman). Dale is lonely and Mohammad is a great listener. As their conversation progresses, we learn about Dale’s tumultuous past.
Trammel is a sensitive portrait of loneliness. Directed by Christopher Jason Bell, this 11 minute short film, on the surface, is a window into a private conversation. But then it gives the viewer so much more. Through this conversation, we learn enough about ...

Scent of a Woman (1974)
Scent of a Woman (1974) Director Dino Risis Profumo Di Donna/Scent of a Woman (1974) comes at the end of a long line of films known as Commedia allItaliana (Italian Style Comedy). The period between the late 1950s and the mid-1970s saw Italian filmmakers exploring social issues, specifically sex, marriage, divorce, inequality, economic prosperity and religion through the lens of satire with a distin...

"It is said that when a woman fights for a man, she is like an ANIMAL!" - Tagline for The Female Animal

Universal's low budget melodrama The Female Animal (1958) was one in a long line of Hollywood backstage films that exploited a business that had much storytelling potential. This 1950s cycle included The Star (1952), Singin' in the Rain (1952), A Star Is Born (1954) and The Barefoot Contessa (1954). However, The Female Animal was strictly on the end of the spectrum as a kitschy B movie. The...

There's That Woman Again -

There's Always a Woman (1938) was Columbia Pictures' answer to the popular Thin Man series produced by rival studio MGM. Directed by former silent film actor Alexander Hall, the movie starred Melvyn Douglas as William 'Bill' Reardon, a private detective, and his well-meaning yet foolish wife Sally played by Joan Blondell. The film was a hit with audiences and received some positive reviews including one...

Trapped (1949)

Poverty Row studio Eagle-Lion Films was eager to follow up the success of T-Men (1947), a film noir directed by Anthony Mann and starring Dennis O'Keefe, with a similar project. Like T-Men, Trapped (1949) pits the United States Department of the Treasury against counterfeiters whose crime poses a great threat to the American economy. A taut and compelling film noir, Trapped stars Lloyd Bridges as Tr...

“We work during the day. We dream at night.”
Max (Arnstar) is a Brooklyn DJ who dreams of making it big. But for now, he’s working at the local grocery store and relegated to playing music at kids’ birthday parties. When he’s not working, Max is taking care of his grandma (Dorothi Fox) and trying to keep out of trouble. The latter is difficult to do when his brother Terry (Joshua Boone), fresh out of prison, gets caught up with a local gang. Max meets Liza (Shyrley Rodriguez), a dance teacher...

From an early age, John Garfield found an outlet for his athleticism and creativity in both boxing and acting. These two things would be intrinsically linked throughout Garfield’s career as a Hollywood actor. Garfield was the son of Jewish immigrants living in the Lower East Side of New York City. His mother died when he was 7 years old. He soon spent many of his formative years in rough neighborhoods, where he began to spar with local kids, joined street gangs and even became a gang leader. ...

Meryem Lahlou’s short film Bare Bones is a magnificent piece of experimental cinema. It’s a visual masterpiece that in a mere 10 minutes makes the the viewer contemplate the meaning of their own existence. The film begs the question: who are we when we all share the same face? Stripped of everything that gives us our individuality, what kind of existence would that be? In this 3D animated short, we see homogenous creatures in motion, moving about in minimalist spaces. A disembodied voice diss...

Michael (Ari Damasco) travels back home to visit his estranged parents in the rural countryside. His mother (Olga Sanchez) and father (Jerry Carlton) are still coming to terms with Michael being their transgender son who previously went by Michelle. Michael and his father travel into the city where his father tries to initiate Michael into what he considers the standard right of passage into manhood.
In France Michelle is a Man’s Name is a quiet yet powerful short film about identity and the ...

A sound engineer escapes into the Swedish countryside to record nature sounds. On this venture he stumbles upon an abandoned flotation device. After a night of sound mixing and imbibing homemade mushroom tea, he has an out of body experience that is out of this world.
Directed by Claes Nordwall, Autoscopy is a 14 minute short film that speaks to the mystery and magic of nature. It’s more than a short film, it’s an experience. It offers stunning aerial cinematography and out-of-this-world soun...

With the worldwide popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race, drag queens are having a renaissance. For Ed Popil (aka Mrs. Kasha Davis) getting on to the show was the ultimate dream. It would give him the fame and opportunity to take his career to the next level.
After years of trying to conform to the heteronormative ideal imposed on him by his parents and community, Ed Popil left it all behind in order to go on a journey of self-discovery. He landed in Rochester, New York to start afresh. It was the...