The Little Prince(ss)

Gabriel is seven and does ballet. At school he becomes friends with a boy called Rob; both come from Chinese families. They play together, they dance, and Gabriel does not hide the clothes he wears at home. Rob's father notices the friendship. He finds Gabriel's behaviour improper and wants his son to keep away. There is something in the man's own childhood and he does not speak of it. Gabriel's parents do not interfere with their son. A tension builds between the two households and the children do not understand its cause. Mira Peng writes and directs. Kalo Moss plays Gabriel and Ching Yin Ryan Hu plays Rob. It is a short film; it runs twenty minutes and was made within Disney's Launchpad programme. The programme was set up to give underrepresented directors the chance to make a short, and this film was in the first selection. The matter it treats is the father's own past; the film looks for the conflict not in the child but in the adult. The ballet works inside the narrative and the dancing is not a display but the character's language. The narrative offers no easy reconciliation and closes quietly. Its limit is length; three households are taken up in twenty minutes and some strands stay unopened. Who it is for: viewers who like short films and family stories grounded in identity. Who it is not for: it is very short, the characters are not opened enough, and the message is delivered directly.