Two Distant Strangers

A short film built on a time loop. Carter is a graphic designer. He wakes at a woman's flat, gets dressed and leaves to go home and feed his dog. He meets a police officer in the street and the encounter ends with his death. Then he wakes in the same bed again. The same morning, the same conversation, the same street. The film shows this again and again. Each time Carter tries something different: another route, saying nothing, apologising immediately, raising his hands, running, staying. The result does not change. That is the idea: the problem is not what he does. It is a short film, running around thirty minutes. It was released on a streaming service and won the Oscar for live-action short in 2021. The rapper Joey Bada$$ plays Carter; Andrew Howard plays the officer. Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe directed. Free cited statistics in his acceptance speech, and the speech itself was widely discussed. A direct and effective example for anyone who likes short films about social questions. For a viewer who wants restraint, the film states its message openly and is built on repetition.