Still Life (Short)
In his beautiful short film, “Still Life,” writer-director Chrs Esper gets to the sad truth about the creative process– that no matter how confident we are about our own work, there’s always going to be somebody who is going to critique it, and make us doubt ourselves. Esper’s bases his short film on a quote by NPR’s Ira Glass about creativity, and the story he has to tell about Martin (Timothy Bonavita), a photography student, is simple, and profound, especially to an artist who is always questioning themselves, and whether they will go anywhere with their passion. The heart of the film gets down to one, critical moments in an artist’s life– when they are able to accept criticism, and feedback, as a positive instead of a negative. When we allow others to help us grow in the creative process, rather than remain stagnate. Filmed in black-and-white, with a lovely piano score by Ryan Campos, “Still Life” says a great deal about what it means to be an artist, and why it’s important never to get too down on ourselves, regardless of how far we feel like we have to go.
