Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10/23/26 – Love can be complicated. So can making an independent film. At today’s City of Angels Film Festival shorts screening and filmmaker Q&A, both subjects inspired a thoughtful conversation about relationships, grief, creative collaboration and the persistence it takes to bring a story to the screen.
I attended to support my friend Odalys Nanin, whose Love and Other Devastations was among the films in the block. The discussion afterward offered an engaging look at the personal experiences and practical decisions behind her film, along with fellow shorts Selfless and Eggnog.
For Nanin, the journey began in the theater.
Her play Love Struck, a romantic comedy exploring the ups and downs of a relationship between two very different women, eventually became a screenplay. She explained that the short was created to introduce that larger project, using scenes that do not appear in the feature screenplay itself.
At its heart is a familiar romantic predicament: becoming so attached to the wrong person that we overlook someone who might actually be right for us.
“Its opposites attract,” Nanin said.
Her explanation of the title’s “devastations” touched on the emotional blind spots that can keep us caught in relationships that aren’t working. Someone may truly love us, yet we remain unable to recognize what is right in front of us. It is fertile territory for a romantic comedy, where humor and heartbreak often occupy the same moment.
The conversation also revealed a lighter detail about the production: a dog’s appearance at the pool was entirely unplanned.
“The dog, we didn’t even have that in the script,” Nanin recalled.
Rather than interrupt the moment, the filmmakers captured it. Her takeaway was the value of remaining open to something unexpected, even when a production requires careful planning.
“Things happen, and you just go with it,” she said.
That flexibility came with plenty of preparation. Nanin explained that the production had access to a donated house for a limited time, requiring her to map out and time each scene carefully. The team finished within its allotted window. She also credited the strong collaboration with her cinematographer, who served as the film’s editor.
Personal experience shaped Selfless as well. Filmmaker Jason Hyun Kim described a writing process in which an insurance-fraud dark comedy became more personal as he incorporated feelings surrounding his father’s death. Kim is the film’s writer and director.
During the Q&A, he explained that the script took more than two years to develop. Much of that work involved connecting the story’s pieces and planting details that would pay off later. As he moves toward writing a feature, he hopes to carry that same discipline into a longer format.
His comments offered a useful reminder that a short running time can conceal years of revision, reconsideration and painstaking work.
For Eggnog, the starting point was a longstanding creative friendship. Directed by Heather Hillstrom and written by actor-producer Ashna Sharan, the film stars Sharan and Wayne Jay.
Hillstrom described how Sharan approached her about collaborating again and offered roughly ten story ideas. Their shared interest in dramedy helped guide the selection, alongside the practical question of what they could accomplish with the resources available.
The production came together quickly, with approximately a month of preparation before a two-day shoot. Rehearsals, a walkthrough with the cinematographer and the actors established working relationship helped the team move efficiently.
Hillstrom’s account illustrated how preparation can give performers and filmmakers room to breathe. Knowing what needed to be accomplished allowed the team to work confidently, and, at one point, surprise colleagues by having already finished the planned coverage.
As the discussion turned to the festival circuit, the filmmakers spoke about the pleasure of watching audiences encounter their work in real time. A reaction in a theater offers something a screening link cannot: the immediate discovery of whether a moment connects.
Nanin also offered encouragement to filmmakers navigating rejection.
“You have to believe in the project,” she said.
Her advice was to keep submitting and trust the work. A string of rejections does not erase the possibility of the next acceptance, or the value of finally sharing a film with an audience.
That spirit carried through the screening and conversation: artists taking personal material, finding collaborators and working through limitations to get their stories seen.
I came to cheer on Odalys and left with a deeper appreciation for the work behind the entire block. There were stories about love and loss on the screen, and equally revealing stories about determination afterward. And somewhere in the middle of all that careful filmmaking, a dog wandered into a scene and reminded everyone to leave a little room for surprise.
By Valerie Milano
The Hollywood Times
Photos: THT
