Sometimes things just catch your eye…

We don’t often do cover shorts here at In The Seats (unless our publicist friends harass us too) but The Announcement which hits most VOD platforms today manages to be a stunner of an experience that simply doesn’t need to say a damn thing.

In the wake of a traumatic incident, Olive and Jonny must grapple with what they have done and what they have lost in one unfortunate moment.

With absolutely no dialogue, The Announcement manages to be an absolute stunner and is the reason why the art form of short filmmaking is still so damn important.

Director Zack Bernbaum, who you may know from his darling feature that played the festival circuit The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova, has crafted a one take, no dialogue stunner that makes me want to see him do more things like this.  It moved effortlessly from beginning to end and really evokes a sense of dread from minute one, making us think one thing while it takes us through a myriad of scenarios by simply moving throughout this house.  Not every filmmaker has the courage to embrace the concept of “less is more” but here with the script from RJ Lackie, we get that and then some as it’s visually engaging and aggressive in making sure it gets its point across to the audience.

Carolina Bartczak is pivotal to making this conceit work as she deftly rides a whirlwind of emotions in a mere 13 minutes of screen time.

Part of me hopes that Bernbaum is using this as a proof of concept in order to mount a feature in a similar vein, because this is the kind of thing that not only me but audiences everywhere want to see out of independent filmmakers who are working to find their voice in the raging seas of viewing content that we constantly find ourselves in.

Consider The Announcement as a life preserver and a breath for fresh air to come in this industry.  You can even see it for free, right here…