Toronto True Crime Film Festival 2019: Law & Shorter: Short Film Unit

Her are my thoughts on the films that played as part of the short film showcase at the 2019 Toronto True Crime Film Festival.

Adjournment

We are placed inside a Belgium courtroom during a murder trial, where a witness testifies about discovering his entire family murdered. Adjournment is a film that provides both a peak into the European legal system, while also documenting the responses of people in the courtroom, particularly in response to grisly crime scene footage that was projected. Thankfully, this short refrains from showing such imagery, though Adjournment is a still an interesting fly-on-the-wall look at a murder trial.

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Mr. Wash

Fulton L. Washington spent 21 years in prison for a non-violent drug offence, before being pardoned by President Obama. It was during his time in prison that Mr. Wash became an accomplished artist, creating between 50-75 paintings a year. Altogether, I would say that Mr. Wash is an interesting character study piece that also causes you to question why this black man spent two decades in prison for a non-violent crime.

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Katie and the Black Robin Hood

Katie Carter is a public defender, who has begun making videos of clients to help with sentencing, with her latest being of a bank robber named Chris Sims. I took away some very mixed messages from Katie and the Black Robin Hood, as Katie Carter makes her videos to try and get clients lesser sentences, but also makes a comment that Chris is “smart to want to do federal time,” since he would have access to a good education. That is really backwards thinking, if I have anything to say about it.

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Swatted

A number of online gamers talk about their experiences being swatted, where internet trolls would hack their personal information and call in SWAT teams. As a gamer, who has dabbled a bit in streaming, I found the premise of Swatted to be quite disturbing and there must be some very sick people out there, who think it’s funny to crank call the police and get SWAT teams sent to gamers’ houses. On a technical note, Swatted has some quite surreal visuals created out of wireframes, which progressively form into images of SWAT teams. Altogether, this short will leave you thinking twice before you stream your gaming online.

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