Argo teams up with Miilkiina to release a playlist of Up-And-Coming Filmmakers Miilkiina is a creative agency and multimedia platform that unearths and supports up-and-coming professionals in creative fields from fashion, photography and film. We’ve teamed up with the ultra-hip, international curators at Miilkiina to create a playlist of 4 eclectic, diverse shorts that challenge the status quo and flip traditional narrative on its head. Check out the Argo x Miilkiina Playlist now on ARGO. 
THE LOST SOUND (Dir. Steffie Yee)
The Lost Sound is an ecstatic, hypnotic animation that expresses the complexities of language. Steffie Yee depicts speaking as a coagulation of sounds and vibrations, rooted in our ancestry, and preempted by our physical, mental and emotional dedication to articulate words for what they mean. Textured graphics, hand-drawn illustrations and plasticine moldings swerve into dazzling figures to create this picture-perfect expression of what it means to create (and lose) a sound.
Steffie Yee is an animator, director, and designer based in Sydney Australia. The Lost Sound received two nominations for Best Short Animation and Best Student Animation at the Palm Springs ShortFest. Steffie Yee’s work has screened at the Atlanta Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, and more. Watch now on ARGO. 
GIVE UP THE GHOST (Dir. Zain Duraie) Zain Duraie delivers a patient, tragic observation on the erosion of a Jordanian marriage due to infertility. Between engulfing moments of silence and destabilizing camera movements, the film beckons a painful subtext of Arab female disempowerment as a wife is unabashedly blamed for stripping her husband of fatherhood. Give Up the Ghost is an exercise in minimalism, a series of subtle disconnections leading up to the final blow of separation. Profound, personal and not-to-be-missed. Give Up the Ghost was officially selected at the prestigious La Biennale Di Venezia 2019 Orizzonti Shorts competition, won the Golden Prize for Best Short at the EL Gouna Film Festival, and won the Vimeo Staff Pick award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Watch now on ARGO. 
MADE IN PALESTINE (Dir. Miriam Dwedar) This poignant short film peers into the lives of three Palestinian brothers who own the last textile factory that manufactures the kuffiyeh, a checkered scarf and national emblem of Palestinian resistance since the Arab Revolt in 1936. Director Miriam Dwedar depicts these brothers felt passion to keep the authentic kuffiyeh alive, despite the threat of synthetic imports and a dying market. Made in Palestine is a moving tribute to the importance of historical, familial, and patriotic preservation. Behind every scarf, is a stitch. And behind every stitch is a story. Mariam Dwedar is an Egyptian-Filipina filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Mariam was recently recognized by DOCNYC- America’s largest documentary festival – as one of “40 under 40” rising stars in documentary filmmaking. Watch now on ARGO. 
BLACKWOOD (Dir. Kalu Oji) In Kalu Oji’s poetically aching film, Blackwood, a Nigerian mother attempts to instill self-love for herself and her son who both yearn for acceptance and belonging in an Australian suburb. The son tries out for a soccer team and his mother gets interviewed for her book. Yet, through this seemingly mundane day, rejection gnaws at the fringes of their identity. Racism seeps through the cracks in this claustrophobic depiction of how to keep standing in a world that wants us to fall. Blackwood was the official selection at the Palm Springs International Shorts Fest, Atlanta Film Festival, and the BFI London Film Festival. Kalu Oji is a Melbourne-based Film Director. His most recent film, The Moon and Me, premiered at the Oscar Qualifying, Pan African Film Festival in LA. Watch now on ARGO.
