Starring: Zoe Daelman Chlanda. Robb Leigh Davis, Katherine O’Sullivan, Tom Reid

Directed By: Jeremiah Kipp

Contact is a suspenseful and chilling short film displaying a drug trip gone horribly wrong and its repercussions, offering us a very unique anti-drug film. The entire film is shot in black and white. Through the  cinematography we get a dark and eerie feel that encompasses the film. There is also very little dialogue. The entire short is 10 minutes long and it isn’t until nearly 4 minutes in to the film that the first word is spoken. Even this is only to establish the drug deal. Especially towards the beginning this helps produce a very still and unsettling tone, letting us know that danger and grief are in the future. The stillness lingers, adding to the suspense and upping the anticipation.

The structure of the film is interesting as well, starting out and ending at essentially the same place. We find out how and why we got there as well as the significance, the solemn silence now seeming all the more fitting. During the climax we are given a number of flashes from earlier on in the film, connecting characters and circumstances together as well as displaying the regret and shame.

The music really helped with the still, foreboding feel, controlling the mood and even the state of emotions that the characters were going through. The actors really deserve a lot of credit for displaying so much emotion, turmoil, and paranoia with their reactions. Zoe Daelman Chlanda is definitely the stand out as our leading lady. Her character goes through a great whirlwind of emotional and mental states. Chlanda really shows the chaotic, terrifying, disillusionments that her character is going through. The film being light on dialogue also helps us feel like we are seeing what the characters are seeing, experiencing what they are experiencing. This puts us right in to their mystified and frantic world, translating their terror ridden trip.