shefilms

Opportunities to see fresh, challenging, yet highly entertaining short films are rare now days. Which is why filmgoers should rush to see "The Orange Orange" while it's on the festival circuit.

Written and directed by Natasha Maidoff, this film brings to life in 12 short whimsical minutes the dilemma facing a creative mind trapped in a pragmatic world. The primary-colored conflicts forced upon the hapless protagonist mirror our own internal struggles as we constantly juggle demands against desires in our day-to-day living.

Maidoff’s ability to get audiences to identify with her heroine’s plight, pushing us to our intellectual limits while simultaneously holding our hand and assuring us, gives this award-winning film an endearing quality that helps us stop, examine and better appreciate our own world. Such an accomplishment is difficult for a good book, let alone a short film.

But Maidoff is uniquely qualified to pull off such a feat with a background in writing and physical theater. Maidoff teaches film at the University of Redlands and at S.A.C.I. in Florence, Italy. Her films have not only won awards at film festivals around the world, but have also been shown at the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art to appreciative audiences.