The big value of short films

Molly Geoghegan (00:01)
You're good. Let me know when you're ready.

Welcome back to Presentation Thinking, AKA the Storyteller Study Club, AKA the podcast giving you visual storytelling strategy in places where you might least expect it. In this case, we're gonna be talking about the animated Oscar short films from 2026 this year with a friend of the pod, very special guest we have here today. might recognize her name because she's an up and coming filmmaker, designer extraordinaire.

Asha Elajee Sharif, welcome back to your favorite podcast. Welcome back. I'm always rope. I mean, you're just one of my favorite storytellers and visual thinkers. there was no, as I started to think about covering the short films ⁓ without Mikey, we're missing him this week, everybody. I was like, we got to Asha. So here you are. Thank you so much for stuffing in.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (00:39)
Thanks for having me. Literally my favorite podcast.

Of course.

Molly Geoghegan (01:03)
Will you give Presentation Nation a little bit of background about what you do and your involvement with the film world?

Asha Alaji-Sharif (01:10)
Yeah, guess designer by day, filmmaker by whenever I have free time. Yeah. ⁓ Yeah. And mostly short films. love I love short storytelling. I feel like it's way more challenging and way more rewarding in a way. ⁓ So, yeah, I'm excited to talk about shorts and also animated shorts because animated films are just so cool and unique. So.

Molly Geoghegan (01:13)
Mm-hmm. When you have time. Love it.

Yeah.

extremely.

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, gives, it allows you to do things that I think is a lot harder to pull off ⁓ without animated shorts. ⁓ Even though I know you've, yeah, and you've directed a couple, ⁓ a couple of things of your own and we'll toot your horn later, but very excited to talk about that in comparison to these shorts too. So, and I put this in the newsletter recently, Presentation Nation, if you're not subscribed, the Ghost Ranch Roundup bringing you insights from story, screen, and stage. Mikey and I will often analyze anything, presentations,

Asha Alaji-Sharif (01:41)
Mm-hmm.

You

For sure.

Molly Geoghegan (02:05)
any element of storytelling through these three pillars because that's, mean, not only is it great alliteration for us to break things down, but these are the categories with which I think presentations often show up. of course for films, we have a lot of, there's the story strategy and the arcs we see consistently throughout these films. And then there's all these screen elements. And yeah, for animated films, like the mise-en-scene, which is... ⁓

French term in filmmaking for all of the elements that you see on the screen, right? And for animation it's so cool because like the costumes and makeup can be so kooky and strange You know, you can have a face on a tree you can have ⁓ certain depends on what kind of style you're using You can have oil paintings come to life, right? So there's like not only just the music and the blocking of the characters and the actors, you know in real life film But there's like all these crazy choices you can use for animation. So

Asha Alaji-Sharif (02:42)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (02:59)
That's what we're going to be digging into today. And if you're like, why does this apply to me as a business storyteller? I think short films are like the ultimate, the ultimate test for short, efficient storytelling ⁓ and visual storytelling specifically with animation. And so I think there's some really interesting nuggets that you can pull from ⁓ watching these, probably just spend 45 minutes of your time watching them. We'll link them in the, in the chat, but ⁓ yeah, Asha let's kick it off with the shortest of the short films.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (03:11)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (03:29)
is called Retirement Plan, right? ⁓ And this is such a sweet, such a sweet story. Tell us a little bit about what you thought of Retirement Plan, and what it's about, I guess.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (03:29)
Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, also it's great that it's under 10 minutes. I'm always so impressed when I see like a nice little super short, well-rounded story. But yeah, Retirement Plan is about a retiree, I guess, that was like, hey, I'm going to try all these things when I retire. then it showed it was very bittersweet. was like, you know, as it goes on, it just like, yeah, kind of shows, I guess, for me, I was like how you maybe shouldn't wait to start things like you could kind of start.

Molly Geoghegan (03:44)
That was

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (04:09)
your life whenever like we have all these dreams and goals and just like little things you want to try and do. ⁓ But I think yeah that message there was like you know you can start this whenever you don't have to wait until you retire wait until later in life to like try these things.

Molly Geoghegan (04:12)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely.

Totally, it's like no day but today. That is the vibe of that one. This is an Irish film narrated by Donal Gleeson, whose voice I love, and then the director, John Kelly, ⁓ and we'll link all of these in the notes. But I think what's interesting about this is like, yeah, I'm not even spoiling something by saying like, yeah, this man you see, when I retire, I'm going to cook more, I'm going to travel more, I'm going to birdwatch.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (04:28)
you

Love.

Molly Geoghegan (04:50)
I'm going to go on a hike and understand what hiking is about. Like, you know, there's all these like things where like, I've never tried that, but I was going to get into it later. Like hobbies, feelings, and things you see people do or things you might like assume are like part of a retirement trajectory, you know, even if you're not interested in them. And so there was a lot of humor to it as well, even if you were like a little bit sad in the end as you're watching him age. And the animation style was kind of like,

Asha Alaji-Sharif (04:54)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (05:19)
Super simple. like to how do you say that flat 2d almost lines a really simple color palette I thought the color palette was interesting and in the beginning. It's really it isn't a neutral color palette There's a lot of like grays some reds and greens and stuff But then at the end it gets like shadowy as he ages Did you notice that and then he has like more lines of course occur on his face? And he kind of gets a little thinner. I think as well

Asha Alaji-Sharif (05:20)
Super simple, yeah. Yeah, like 2D.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (05:45)
So I thought that was just really well done over the course of seven minutes. ⁓ It also struck me as someone that like does poetry, is in the poetry space, it struck me as a poem because there's so much repetition and yeah, and it was like such a cool way to perform a piece like that I thought. Yeah, very interesting.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (05:55)
Yeah, me too, yeah.

Yeah, think,

I think too, like that speaks to poetry also being a great, like a lot of, what do you call it? A lot of like methods and like technical things that you used to make poetry. think, yeah, like I feel like those can like translate very well when you're like even in speech writing or just like coming up with a plan for writing because like poetry has such a rhythm to it that I think like that's something.

Molly Geoghegan (06:17)
Yeah, devices, Yeah, literary devices.

Mmm.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (06:30)
That could be great to replicate if you're just giving any kind of presentation or like trying to come up with a talk track, you know.

Molly Geoghegan (06:35)
Yes.

Ooh, you tapped into something. Yeah, rhythm. Because we've talked, we talk about speech writing a lot and I think repetition really works here. It's like, it's such a, it's like funny and sweet and then a little sad too. And it like, doesn't get too old. I think it makes sense that it's only seven minutes because if it was 15 minutes and you were like listening to, I will, because he says these statements again and again, over and over. And so it gets a little, you're like, okay, I know what you're going to say, but.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (06:42)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (07:03)
the seven minutes keeps it in such a sweet spot that you're like, it didn't feel too long. And the rhythm of that you're like expecting and it's like a comfort, it's comforting. There's the music is really beautiful. The music really plays a role here too. And yeah, I think everyone, he's a very simple guy, you know, but like with simple colors and stuff. So I think anyone's supposed to like project themselves onto them. Obviously it's a simple version of like.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (07:12)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

for sure.

Molly Geoghegan (07:30)
It's a specific version of retirement, but I think a lot of people in the Western world would relate to it. super sweet. ⁓ This one didn't, we're gonna save the winner for last. Out of five films, we'll be covering the four. Unfortunately, we'll shout this out now, the Three Sisters is not currently streaming, but that is also an Oscar nominated, and it made it short from this year. So, we didn't see that one. ⁓ Okay, anything else to say about retirement plan before we move on?

Asha Alaji-Sharif (07:35)
Yeah, for sure. Agree.

I don't think so. I liked it.

Molly Geoghegan (08:01)
Yeah, I liked it a lot. Super sweet. Yeah, I would like show it to my parents. Side note, am I echoing for you? Or are you good? Okay, good. There's like every second or like eighth sentence, John, you can cut this out, but okay, just making sure it wasn't annoying for you. Okay, now, which one next? I'm holding off. This next film.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (08:10)
Mm-mm.

Molly Geoghegan (08:31)
We'll get it over with, we'll get it over with. Absolutely destroyed me. I struggle with animated films, Asha knows this, just because I think they're like, because they're such strong storytelling, they use such strong storytelling devices, I'm like, this is emotional manipulation, I'm always sobbing. I'm sobbing at the end of this. This one is called Forever Green by, hold on, I have his whole profile pulled up, Jeremy Spears.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (08:32)
Okay, okay.

Yes.

god.

Molly Geoghegan (08:55)
A lot of people that worked on Zootopia worked on this. So if you're a Zootopia fan, I think you'll see a little bit of that flavor. However, I was just as to speak to the style, I was so refreshed with like, I saw a little clip that said that the characters are supposed to be carved from wood is what it kind of is supposed to resemble. And you can see there's a little bit less roundness to them than I think you see typically now in these Pixar Disney bigger films, which I'm kind of like tired of seeing. So I think it was so refreshing to see.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (09:13)
That makes sense.

Right.

Molly Geoghegan (09:24)
like a different style. There's a lot of like lines and ⁓ a little bit more sharpness in the characters in this film. It's called, yeah, for Evergreen and it's about a sweet little bear that gets raised by an evergreen tree. And ⁓ of course gets a taste of human potato chips at one point. And he's like, I gotta go, I gotta get more of that. I think about this sometimes. Like think about like trying a Cheeto if you're only eating like nuts and berries.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (09:30)
Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (09:53)
And like

that must taste like coca, that must be like drugs to animals. So it makes sense. totally. Yeah, exactly. So he makes his way, of course, to a human campsite and it gets so he's getting all the goods. He's looting. And unfortunately, the humans, this is a story of habituation and I think responsible, ⁓ recreating outdoors, but the fire is, ⁓ left.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (09:58)
No, for sure. I mean, he was feening.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (10:20)
burning and the bear starts a fire. And so, you know, we have to see what happens with his relationship with the Evergreen. I won't spoil it. But as you can imagine, it's devastating. And so, it's kind of a, it's totally like a little cautionary tale. I think it has a fable vibe. This is what struck me with this one is like a strategy of, we see those arcs and the shapes of stories. This is like one of those things where,

Asha Alaji-Sharif (10:32)
Tough watch.

for sure.

Molly Geoghegan (10:49)
the character ventures from home, even though the tree is like, hey, don't go over there. I know this is bad for you. And the bear is like, no, I gotta get those chips. And important to note that there is no dialogue in this whatever. This is all by facial expression, music, and light, like the lighting and the shift. I knew I should have stopped it at like five minutes in. I was like, something bad's gonna happen, because things are too good for this sweet little bear. Yeah, how did...

Asha Alaji-Sharif (10:51)
huh, huh.

Mm-hmm.

No, it was so sweet. I but I like lost

it. I was like, you know, you're watching something and it's like, you don't you're not feeling the emotions yet. And then like out of nowhere, like when that one situation happened, it was just like everything in me just came out and I was like, my gosh, this is so devastating. So. But.

Molly Geoghegan (11:28)
Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah.

Just fucked up. my God. ⁓

Absolutely. I thought ⁓ Voyage and Return is one of the shape I was looking for of like he has, he goes on a little bit of a journey and it does change him and he comes back different and he implements what he learns and F after the events take place at like the climax of the film. So yeah, I would say that's like.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (11:43)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (11:59)
there's a parable, there's like a lesson to be learned from the story, which I think is an interesting strategy to employ. And we know that it's important for characters to have like challenges in front of them, but I think it's interesting, yeah, where it's like, this happens for a reason, right? So it's like, there's a reason, that's one of those, where like, there's a reason it's there, it's not just like fruitless that this happened, you know? ⁓ So if you're a camper, you'll recognize sort of the... ⁓

Asha Alaji-Sharif (12:02)
Yeah.

for sure.

Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (12:27)
Leave No Trace parable. That's a Leave No Trace parable. Yeah, definitely.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (12:28)
Yes, yes. I was so angry because I do think like, mean, you and I both, you know, we're outdoorsy people. So it was just like, as soon as I saw that, I was like, why would anybody leave a campsite like that for the bear to get to?

Molly Geoghegan (12:37)
and like these people. was like, I'm... Yeah. I was like, I know where this is going. Yeah, totally. I was

worried. Yeah, was worried which way it would go. was like, who are we gonna lose here? I was like, I wasn't sure what... ⁓ The music was so beautiful, so well done. I think the lighting was really cool in this one. Let's talk about the mise en scene and because obviously we're outdoors and we're in like the forest, beautiful area. And so just really well...

Asha Alaji-Sharif (12:48)
Yeah, no, for sure, for sure.

the lighting was stunning,

Molly Geoghegan (13:05)
cool use of like when the sun was and wasn't present. And then after a fire started, like the cool smoke and stuff and the kind of like smokiness that they employed was, just, I've never seen it like in that kind of way in an animated film. It was just really well done, especially with no dialogue. Like we could tell, we could tell kind of something good or bad was happening because of the lighting and we could tell like what, and we could tell like things are shifting because of the lighting as well. Very cool.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (13:08)
Mm-hmm.

It was ⁓

I think

too, like this did a really great job of character building. Cause like, it's like, it's a bear in a tree. So it's like, you know, but like they did such a good job of, right. They did such a good job of creating this relationship that you latch onto in such a short amount of time. Cause it was only like, what five, I would say like five minutes in that you learn about these two characters and you feel so much for them. You know, literally.

Molly Geoghegan (13:36)
Mm-hmm.

With a face, yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah, and you'd be like, I'd die for you guys for sure. Yeah, exactly.

No, I know. I think there's something, obviously people are, I think in general, you're like, yeah, of course I care about the trees, of course I care about the bears, but they specifically, and this is, think, such a story choice to get you to care fast, is that the tree has a full face, so this is like a total child-like personification, and I think that gives it this thing of like, my God, this tree, this tree has like little...

Asha Alaji-Sharif (14:07)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (14:20)
branch hands that he's raising the bear with. So this is like such a play on emotional heartstrings. Screw you guys. I'm saying, never watching it again. I know it was too much, but absolutely, absolutely gorgeous animation. yeah, like I said, refreshing to see different styles of the 3D that isn't just totally round. And yeah, I saw in the interview that someone said they wanted it to have.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (14:24)
just thinking about it. I'm gonna literally cry again. I'm gonna cry again just thinking about it. It's literally... it was a lot.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (14:48)
the characters as if they were carved from trees, which is just so, so cute. Yeah. And I think with no dialogue, a lot of ⁓ just such cool expressions too, for for Jin Choice for the bear was also very funny. ⁓ And so that gives you like this relatable, like, yeah, I think this is something probably meant to show to children too, as like, yeah. Whereas like, this is, this is for you to learn from and this is your, this is your friend. Bears are like, nature is your friend, so.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (14:52)
You know, I love that. Very sweet.

Mmhmm, mmhmm.

a hundred percent.

He

chose your friend.

Molly Geoghegan (15:20)
my God. Okay, well, we got to move on because we're running out of time, but I could, we got to leave that space. ⁓

The next one that I watched was Butterfly, which is a gorgeous story and it's based on a true story of the French swimmer named Alfred Nakash, who was a Jewish competitive swimmer, competed in the Berlin Summer Olympics and then unfortunately was separated ⁓ from his family.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (15:31)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (15:49)
⁓ during the Holocaust and ⁓ so sad. so as he's, and this is done in a stunning way. Asha, tell us a little bit about the animation style here, because I know you have a lot to say.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (15:51)
So sad.

Yeah,

I mean, it uses paint, which I think is very interesting for a story that's like, yeah, like surrounded by like water, you know I mean? Like in a way, because like, I feel like that wet texture really just kind of helps embody this, like, which water is almost like a character in this story. So I just thought that was really a clever way of being able to show this kind of unique motion and like flow that I don't think you could get doing something that's like three dimensional or like using more like

Molly Geoghegan (16:05)
Oil paint.

Yes.

Mm-hmm

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (16:28)
solid materials, you know? I don't think it would have hit the same if it weren't for that.

Molly Geoghegan (16:30)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah,

yeah, absolutely. It was like, ⁓ everything could flow really easily. And I think this is a...

Asha Alaji-Sharif (16:37)
Mm-hmm

Molly Geoghegan (16:38)
great example of what we're saying what animation can do that you can't have in like real life shot, which is that you can flow from different scenes, especially when you're talking about like really hard things. So you can, and it can just be kind of abstract, but we know what's happening. So when we, you know, we see him as like a swimmer early on in his ⁓ days in North Africa, I forget exactly where he's from. And he's like a really talented swimmer. And you're seeing those scenes melt and he meet, then he meets his partner and you're seeing those scenes kind of melt into

Asha Alaji-Sharif (16:49)
Yeah.

Right.

Molly Geoghegan (17:08)
each other and then we see like from like a dark puddle we see like a Nazi flag up here so we're like okay this is this is what time it is but it's

Asha Alaji-Sharif (17:13)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (17:16)
It's never said, you know, it's like such a good example of show don't tell. I think the only dialogue that's in it is like the competition announcer voices and that's it. And everything else you kind of are like, you're just seeing happen. And so to talk about something so tough, I think it's really beautifully done in a, yeah, show don't tell way. And you're like, okay, I know what happened. And then there's only one kind of epilogue. ⁓

Asha Alaji-Sharif (17:17)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (17:41)
piece of text to tell you that his family was killed, but he went on to be like a really still an amazing competitive swimmer after the Holocaust, which is crazy. ⁓ And so, yeah, just so I've never seen oil painting animated like that. I think he had the choice for swimming. And then the sound, I think the sound played such a cool element here with like the splashing.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (17:43)
Great.

Great.

me.

the sound design.

Stunning. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (18:03)
Yeah, the sound design was so cool. And

that helped transition from scene to scene too, because there would often be like a splash or like a river current coming to coming in. And like when something stressful was happening, the water sounded different, you know, it was like swirling and like bigger. So that was, I just thought that was, I've never like seen something like that or heard something paired in that way. So beautiful.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (18:08)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, yes.

Yeah, and I think it's interesting too, because it really shows the, like, guess how water itself can be very peaceful, but also very dangerous. So I think it was interesting how they used water in both ways to tell that story.

Molly Geoghegan (18:34)
Mm-hmm.

yeah, so true.

Mm-hmm, yes, absolutely. ⁓ Yeah, I love, this person wrote, we'll link this little blog with this film that gives... ⁓

Sorry, animated oil paintings gives the film a swirling fantastical energy, which not only calls to mind the movements of water that were so similar to Nakash, but also feels like watching someone else's memory somehow brought to visual life. You know, like Harry Potter and the Pensive, like these kind of like flow. And when you're seeing memories, because the through line of it is he's an older man recalling memories and he's swimming. So it's like, he's swimming, he's swimming, he's swimming, and he's recalling like his life story, basically. And I don't think I called this out, but this is by Florence.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (18:56)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm. ⁓

Molly Geoghegan (19:16)
Mial, French film. Very beautiful. ⁓ Yeah, wow. mean, epic story. I'm trying to think of what kind of arc that is, but since it's a biography, I think it's kind of like a look, yeah, one of those things, like a look back and you're like, dang. Yeah, getting to know someone that is probably just one of the faces of many in that time.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (19:35)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (19:46)
Very well done. This brings us to the very last and winner of best Oscar animated short film for this year, which was The Girl Who Cried Pearls. Asha, what did you think about this? Super interesting.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (20:01)
Very interesting. Didn't go quite in the direction that I expected because I didn't want to read anything before I watched that one. And I think it leaves a lot of room for discussion and interpretation. And I do think like the storytelling was was great. It was like very well done. But I think what was most impressive was the medium. Like stop motion is something that is so cool and like is not utilized enough anymore. But like

Molly Geoghegan (20:07)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, me neither.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (20:31)
just yeah, just the use of the different styles between like the present and the past and all of that was just very interesting. ⁓

Molly Geoghegan (20:40)
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Another recalling, like, oh, I have a story to tell. I think animated is good for that too because you can go back in such a cool and different way. And sometimes usually in films, when someone tells a story within a story, that story is animated. Yeah, thinking of like...

Asha Alaji-Sharif (20:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Right.

Molly Geoghegan (21:00)
Yeah, my mind's on Harry Potter and but when she tells the story of the Deathly Hallows, you know, that's like a really beautiful use of animation where it's like, okay, this is kind of a childhood tale and we want to like visualize this in a way, but it's like set within the real life film. Very cool. The Girl Who Cried Prills by Chris Lavis and Maciej Zerbowski is stop motion in the way, yeah, a la Wallace and Gromit, but it's like this

Asha Alaji-Sharif (21:08)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

It's different

though.

Molly Geoghegan (21:30)
The, the, the mise en scene.

Yeah, exactly. So I'm, yes. Pinning people like if you don't know what stop motion is, it's when like there's almost like a claymation. It's is one of the most tedious forms of animation, which is undoubtedly like deserving of, of the award for sure. ⁓ but it has this, the mise en scene is very dark and shadowy. And it's like this kind of like almost haunting doll like quality, like the paint and the colors used on, on the faces are super uncomfortable to look at actually sometimes where it's like, yeah, it's.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (21:50)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, it's a little uncanny valley.

Yes.

Molly Geoghegan (22:01)
Yeah, or Tim Burton, very Tim Burton.

I think, you know, it's this little girl finds something in her grandpa's, ⁓ you know, beautiful office or yeah, fancy, like this is a nice fancy place. I think they're in Paris, right? There's the Eiffel Tower out the window. So mise en scene like set right away. And he's like, let me tell you about this pearl. Right. And so you're like, da, da, da. And so it's a great little setup. That's a perfect, you know, people open up their TED Talks with a little anecdote.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (22:12)
Office, yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (22:30)
And let me tell you about this one thing that changed my life. And we go back with him to when he was a young boy and struggling with poverty and was like, ⁓ I lived in this apartment next door to a family. And when this girl would cry, she cried, like, you know, I'd look through the window and like, I feel so bad for her, but I noticed she cried pearls because her tears turned into pearls. And it's like this fantastical, yeah, like again, kind of a fairy tale folk kind of thing. He takes it to a pawn shop.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (22:47)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (23:00)
And the guy, of course, tries to like cheat him out of it. ⁓ But yeah, this gross pawn shop guy. And I think this supposed to like kind of be this, I think we're supposed to feel a little uncomfortable because it's like, because we're like, we shouldn't be comfortable with this person's level of poverty and like what this boy has to do to get by. ⁓ But then we're happy when he gets more pearls and he's getting money and he's able to buy himself clothes and some food and stuff like that.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (23:03)
Right?

For sure.

Molly Geoghegan (23:28)
But he claims that, you know, he's telling the pawnkeeper, he's like, I'm in love with this girl and she's, I'm all I'm doing, I'm not doing anything to help her. She's just crying. And so that makes me so like, it's making me so sad. So it's kind of like the cost of like what it takes to make someone happy. But then the twist, I think we should spoil it. So spoiler, if you haven't seen it yet, ⁓ we'll link these in the spice cabinet. But I do think the twist is most important here because.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (23:35)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (23:54)
He says, or at the very end, the jeweler who had been evaluating the pearls sees a crate from a shipping container explode or like fall apart in the dock and all it's filled with pearls. And the jeweler's like, oh my God, this is what the pawn shopper brought, like pawn keeper brought me. What is this? And he asked the, the dockman and he goes, oh, it's this new thing they're using called plastic.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (23:59)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (24:21)
And so we learned like, my God, that's not a valuable pearl at all, it's plastic as we know it. But at the time that was a brand new thing. And we know that this young boy has just gotten away with like selling a bunch of plastic pearls and he knew it, right? So he, and that was his way of getting out of his like hard situation. So then he's, and he tells the girl, most importantly, he's like, it's not about the thing, it's about the value of the story that he had told the pawnkeeper.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (24:25)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Right. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (24:48)
And that

is just, I mean, that's the whole point of this podcast. It's not about the thing, it's about the value of the story. I was like, perfect, when I heard that. And the girl asked him, goes, was she even real? The girl that you were talking about who cried pearls. And he kind of raises his eyebrows and then that's the end of the film. Very cool, very cool story. The most interesting story, I think, of all of them, because there was, I think sometimes animated films, you're like, okay.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (25:02)
Mm-hmm.

I'm in.

100%.

Molly Geoghegan (25:18)
we're getting right down to the strategy. Like I know what's gonna happen. I know I'm gonna cry at this bear in the tree. I didn't, I never knew where this was going. And I thought that was interesting. And yet it still turned out to be this kind of like, that's really interesting. Like the price of, yeah, having to, the cost of having to get out of a hard situation. And then also, ⁓ I fully believed you. And this was actually just a story. And the value of that story was enough that you were able to get out of like, yeah.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (25:32)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (25:47)
your hard times.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (25:49)
Yeah, I mean, that's literally marketing. So, you know, like that's what it is. Cause it's like, think a hundred percent. Cause like there's so many products out here. So it's like, well, how do you make your one thing stand out? You know what I mean? Amongst the noise or like, how do you convince somebody that they need to get this one thing right now? Cause he had that pawn shop guy convinced. He was like, my God, I need more. He was like, I need more. Yes, he sold us building for it.

Molly Geoghegan (25:51)
That's marketing. That is it. Yeah, exactly. It's about the value of the story, not about the value of the thing. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yes.

Yes.

Yeah. yeah, he sold his building. He sold his building for it, Yeah,

crazy, exactly. And I think the setting, like, because it's a little darker and like haunting, I think maybe we're supposed to feel this sort of like, there's something corrupt going on here, right? Like it's obviously not an equal, like an equal society. The girl he's spying on has like a hard family life. And so I think.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (26:19)
This is wild.

Mm-hmm

Molly Geoghegan (26:37)
like the choices to make the characters look uncomfortable, like the setting is uncomfortable and like dirty and stressful, but also so detailed and cool from an animation's perspective, of course. ⁓ And then the blocking of like the choice for stop motion too is ⁓ almost puppety, right? Cause puppets are like, you can choose what words you put in their mouth. And so I think maybe there's a choice there. Maybe I'm stretching, but maybe there's a choice of like, they got to choose.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (26:45)
So detailed, yeah.

Yeah.

No, I think so.

Molly Geoghegan (27:03)
It's not about what they look, it's about what they're, I could make them say anything, right? I could make these puppets, yeah, do whatever I suppose, because we're just attaching the voiceover to it.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (27:15)
Yeah, because I noticed that I think on the flashbacks, yeah, the characters mouths didn't move at all. But like the grandfather and the granddaughter, like, I believe, yeah, their mouths were moving. So I think it is interesting that he like used that. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (27:22)
Mm-hmm.

Yes. Yeah, maybe like an update.

Yes, that's, that's really smart because we're like looking at his story, which the mouths are moving. So it's like, is it how he remembered it? Is it not? Right? Reliable narrator. Very interesting. ⁓ I didn't say who did this. I did, yes, exactly. But this was the winner and I'll have to, link their, a couple of interviews from them too. We'll link a couple of extra things. Cause I think this is an interesting like hill to.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (27:34)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (27:56)
dive in a little bit on, yeah. So, yeah, I was, it was a great twist. It was a great twist. You're like this new thing, plastic, yeah. ⁓ And how, not only from the real perspective, I was like how that would have blown people's mind and it would have looked like a really valuable pearl maybe when it first became a thing, but for this young boy to like, yeah, to twist that into his own good and then tell an amazing story about, yeah, just like.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (27:56)
Yeah, no, when he said plastic, I was like, what?

You

Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (28:25)
Yes,

selling, he essentially is a good salesman. So ⁓ really a lot to learn from that one and just an interesting, yeah, not one you would, I guess, show to the kids, but it's interesting to look at. And if you're a fan of Tim Burton, you'll really like the vibe, a little darker. Very interesting. Okay, Asha, I know we're running out of time, but from a filmmaker's perspective, ⁓ just how does this apply? You've done shorts, you've been in shorts and produced and directed shorts of your own. ⁓

Asha Alaji-Sharif (28:40)
think so, yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (28:53)
How does this like, how do you feel when you watch short films and ⁓ how did these kind of influence ⁓ or not what you're up to recently?

Asha Alaji-Sharif (29:03)
No, I think like I was saying before I think short films just speak to how storytelling if done right like You can tell a really amazing story in such a short amount of time I think some people get like freaked out when they're like, we have two minutes. we have three minutes But it's like you can tell a full well-rounded story in a very short amount of time and oftentimes I think sometimes it's more impactful that way, you know, like because it's like it doesn't take a lot of people's time they have

Molly Geoghegan (29:19)
Mm-hmm.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (29:29)
more time to be able to think about it and talk about it and discuss it ⁓ because it's not taking up all this time. And yeah, I mean, I wish I could animate. Like, I wish that was something I could do and also had the time and patience for because I just think, like you said, know, animation opens up a whole new world of possibilities to how you can create things. ⁓ But I mean, I think that just speaks to like us today being able to use different mediums to tell stories, like outside of just

what we normally think of, you know?

Molly Geoghegan (30:01)
Yeah, different medians. And what you said there of getting down to the meat of the story, there's no room for fluff. And I think this is something we can learn from business storytelling and any level of storytelling where it's like, people's attention spans are really short. Don't leave, leave a lot on the cutting room floor because you're gonna have a very, you need to just be very strategic and ⁓ what do they say? Efficient with your words, economy of language. ⁓

Asha Alaji-Sharif (30:08)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (30:28)
And that is so important now, just so being able to like, you're like, oh yeah, be that really harsh director of like, we don't need that scene. Like we don't need that slide, cut that out. How do you combine a couple points into one without overwhelming one, you know, one slide and one visual? How does a visual convey something and not text? Just think about how to be more efficient. So I think it's a great efficiency lesson, absolutely. Ooh, editing seems so hard, man, though.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (30:46)
Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (30:54)
Cause like, yeah, I'm sure there's stuff that you've made where you're like, but I need this. And you've probably had

Asha Alaji-Sharif (30:57)
my god, yes

Molly Geoghegan (30:59)
to shock yourself to be like, it's gotta cut it, like gotta cut it. Cause I mean, you've submitted to places where you're like, it can only be, what was your most recent film? the people. Yeah, five minutes, yeah.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (31:02)
Yeah.

Five minutes, five minutes. So it's like, that was hard. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (31:14)
Crazy, yeah, that's nuts. Okay, thank you so much. Yeah, I think there's so much to learn. We'll link all of these in the spice cabinet. And Asha, what can we link in the spice cabinet for you so people can go explore your work as well? It's a lot going on.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (31:30)
I think nothing is public right now, so that's kind of difficult. ⁓ No, I mean, I don't know when I'm going to have the most recent film publicly available. ⁓ But I mean, I guess like social media, I do have things linked to keep up to date. So.

Molly Geoghegan (31:34)
⁓ well, this won't come out for a week or two.

Okay.

Okay.

But can we share what award you were just given? Is that public? Yeah. Yeah.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (31:54)
⁓ yeah, so yeah, so the documentary that I

most recently did at the Atlanta Documentary Festival got best social impact documentary. exciting, yeah. Yeah.

Molly Geoghegan (32:04)
Hello Hello For noble truth Mikey and I covered it in

a previous episode with Asha which we'll link and I Mean, yeah, talk about efficient storytelling. Very cool social impact documentary. What's so rad? ⁓ so yeah, we're very proud and Absolutely, and I know I know there's some stuff coming into the Atlanta Film Festival coming up at the end of the month so if and yeah, if that's will

Asha Alaji-Sharif (32:19)
Yeah. Changing the world one film at a time. Trying to.

Mm-hmm.

Molly Geoghegan (32:33)
We'll keep tabs on that and keep the listeners posted depending on... Can we share that you're... I can cut this out if we need to, but can we share that you're in one of the films? Okay, yeah. You're in one of the films featured in the Atlanta Film Festival. ⁓ What's the name of that film?

Asha Alaji-Sharif (32:35)
Yeah. Totally.

You can share. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, that is 500 seconds to tell you Short I think comes in around 10 minutes And yeah, it's about a best friend at the end of the world and his literal literal last final moments Confessing to his best friend ⁓ how he feels about her

Molly Geoghegan (32:56)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Right. Directed by Gerard Clark, who have also had that on the podcast. So this is a fun little fam we're building over here for the film, for the filmmaking portion of the pod. Well, thank you again for joining. Again, friend of the pod. And in the meantime, everybody keep on pitching.

Asha Alaji-Sharif (33:12)
Yeah.

For sure.