As yours truly arrived at the theater for the premiere of Cordially Invited today, she was startled to notice that a wedding appeared to be going on. Not one but two brides were milling around… They were present to promote the film, which prominently features a wedding. The theater was packed to the point where the director barely got the last remaining seat, which happened to be beside me (I didn't elbow him or ask questions during the film, I promise).

Later I headed over to see the five shorts nominated for this year's HBO Short Film Competition (and, of course, to drink champagne and eat cake). Of the five, I felt The Second Coming and Porn Editor particularly stood out, for different reasons. The Second Coming is a redemption story that uses a classic three-act structure and has an active character with a fully justified character arc.

Porn Editor, on the other hand, is a slice-of-life animation, which could have been problematic since without an active protagonist with a clear goal you get no stakes and often a less compelling film. But Porn Editor proved that if you're funny enough, you can get away with a lot.

The other three shorts offered good lessons in filmmaking (more on the level of issues to keep in mind when making a film). African Booty Scratcher, which had a great core conflict about a teenage girl dealing with her African immigrant mother, needed a more active main character with a more justified arc.


A.M. Session offered a vital message about making assumptions based on first impressions, but I guessed its big reveal before the film got there, and also it just seemed to stop rather than end.

Midway, inspired by Sartre's , included a lot of skillful subtext but also left a few too many questions unanswered. But overall it was a pleasure watching all of them, and it will be interesting to see which of them walks away with the short film prize on Sunday.