It does not have any presentation titles or any technical clarification, it lasts just 1 minute 34 seconds, the camera only records a conversation between a father and a son that is almost a monologue of the father. But
“Don't Be Afraid” breaks with a lot of cinematographic structures, and perhaps without meaning to. A lot of people know what concept art is all about, but it's worth remembering. When the support or the final result of a work of art is of no importance, and the only thing that matters is the message, that is called conceptual art, because the concept is the only thing that matters and not even the quality of the invoice .
This short film is pure conceptual cinema. Innovative par excellence. Some fans will remember the films of Von Triers, the Dane who directed “Melancholia”, the one who made Nicole Kidman walk on a town drawn on the floor in “Dogville”. Well, the idea of conceptual cinema is to make cinema in any way, with whatever is at hand. The only thing that matters is the idea. In any case, the smooth movement of the camera at the beginning, the lighting and the framing are perfect.
Ben Cable shows us, perhaps the fragment of a longer talk, where he talks about an upcoming protest and fears. The talk is political to the extent that almost all talk is political. But I don't want to tell that talk because it deserves to be seen and heard, especially at a time when nothing seems to work to solve fundamental things.
“Don't Be Afraid” won the prize for the best political short film at the festival. Very deservedly.