Hold
In the wake of a poet’s confession-style solo performance, the poet and two friends spend their evening debriefing in a car.
-
Joshua KaufmanDirectorSituations and Circumstances
-
Joshua KaufmanWriterSituations and Circumstances
-
Joshua KaufmanProducerSituations and Circumstances
-
Jack MeriwetherKey Cast"Jack"
-
Fernando Moya DelgadoKey Cast"Fernando"
-
Megan StrattonKey Cast"Meg"
-
Project Type:Experimental, Short
-
Genres:Drama, Independent, Low-Budget, LGBT, Short
-
Runtime:16 minutes 6 seconds
-
Production Budget:7,000 USD
-
Country of Origin:United States
-
Country of Filming:United States
-
Language:English
-
Shooting Format:Digital
-
Aspect Ratio:17:9
-
Film Color:Color
-
First-time Filmmaker:No
-
Student Project:No
Joshua Kaufman is an independent director, writer, and visual artist in New York City. His recent work includes three short films: LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE, SITUATIONS AND CIRCUMSTANCES, and RESERVATIONS; and two plays: BACKWARD PEOPLE, and UNCHILDING.
The characters in HOLD delicately walk the line between fully exposing themselves and retreating into unknowability. Jack’s (they/them) performance refracts their brother’s mental health journey through a smokescreen of distortion and ambiguity; they decline to reveal whether their brother has even survived his psychological crisis. Fernando (he/him) and Meg’s (she/her) gossip session conceals the sensitivity of their feelings about sex and intimacy within layers of humor and irony.
Whether through words, song or silence, the film requires viewers to pay close attention to match the story with its speaker, suggesting that the unsaid is often more telling than the surface of any conversation. HOLD interrogates emotional discourse and its true purpose, and contends that the truth is something fleeting, ephemeral, and indirectly revealed.