Last week the New York Times published a beautiful short film titled “Paraíso,” the Spanish word for paradise. The film documents the lives of window washers in Chicago, exploring the daily perils of their jobs and the existential questions about life, death and shared humanity that they grapple with each time they strap into their harnesses.Given the controversy surrounding immigration in America, it’s no wonder this film has generated some buzz (in addition to running in the Times, the film has been a staple at recent film festivals and is shortlisted for an Academy Awards nomination). With grace, subtlety and respect, “Paraíso” cuts through the rhetoric of immigration and highlights the hypocrisy of a society descended from immigrants that continues to reject new immigrants, even though it can’t fully function without them.
More importantly, it reminds us that when we talk about immigrants, we are in fact talking about human beings just like you and me. We could be them. They could be us. Their well-being and ours are inextricably linked. The next time you create a short film, try to keep this feeling of oneness in mind. It is the fuel upon which important movements can advance.
What we loved:
- The piece was purely editorial content with nothing promotional about it. This is what you want to strive for when you create your own short films. Make them educational. Make them insightful. Make them original content that your audience wants to consume. Then, put your credit at the end as publisher, the aha moment.
- The film takes us behind the scenes in a detailed way that makes us feel like we were there. The garage, the elevator, the rug over the edge, details you wouldn’t really think about if you spied a window washer high overhead.
- The film gave us room to absorb what was happening. Micro-documentaries are typically shorter than Paraíso, but the same lesson applies. Don’t pack things in. Give your audience breathing room as they watch. If they want to know more when they get to the end, that’s a good thing!
- Make it human. A detail like the window washer crossing himself before going over the edge reiterates that this is a human being with feelings of frailty like all of us. Likewise, showing the camaraderie among friends makes us all feel like we have friends like this and thus can relate.
- The film offers rich insight into danger, motivation (being able to help parents in Mexico) and the fact that window washers are not necessarily aspiring to the lives of the people in the skyscrapers – they are also observing them as human beings with their own sufferings or frustrations. Remember to offer insight in your own films. What topic can you educate your audience about?
What we didn’t like:
- At 10 minutes in length, the film is at the far edge of what we think of as the micro space. Unless the audience is quite captive, I would recommend for it to be closer to 3 to 4 minutes to have a greater audience.