By Will Barber Taylor

Determined to party at Sundance, three entitled young women meet up at an LA member’s only club to make a selection-worthy short film. In an unholy fusion of wokeness and cluelessness, they build a narrative from atop the high perch of their privilege. And piece-by-piece, they almost, almost, almost give a voice to the voiceless – just without ever having any idea what they’re talking about. But they are perfectly positioned to make it happen.

The concept of performative wokeness is one many of us will be familiar with. Some may be familiar with it but not want to admit it whilst others will think that everyone who differs from them does it. Yet regardless of its commonness it does exist and one place that it is certainly present is in our media. That is why Poppy Gordon’s short film For Your Consideration is both so refreshing and devastatingly funny.

Gordon’s approach is a clever one. She does not attempt present her protagonists as evil or inherently bad people but rather as fundamentally misguided people who in an attempt to gain fame and social acceptance desperately seek to find what will give their film credibility as well as societal praise.

It is this inability to realise their own flaws and the obnoxiousness of their actions that makes the film so funny and endearing. It rightly points out the hypocrisy that often exists at the heart of our film industry. Gordon’s satire is so compelling because it portrays the reality of people wanting to take up views because of their popularity without fully understanding them in a realistic way.

The performances are great all round with Samantha Robinson’s performance as Heather being particularly outstanding. Robinson immerses herself fully into the part and brings out all of Heather’s sardonic nature perfectly. Robinson doesn’t have to do too much to capture the science – a well timed tilt of the head or a roll of the eyes immediately convey what her character is thinking.

Overall, For Your Consideration is an excellent short film that perfectly captures the often shallow nature of the film industry and attempts by creators to be acceptable rather than gain some level of authenticity or genuineness to their work. Poppy Gordon has achieved that and made a truly entertaining, authentic and relevant film that I hope directors of the future will take note of and realise the importance of originality.

You can read my interview with Poppy here.