Visa Issues – A Review

‘Visa Issues’ is a drama short film written by Robert Feldmaier (who also plays the lead role as Alex) and has been making the rounds of the independent short film festival circuits.  The short film is created by a group of young aspiring actors and filmmaker crews that are passionate in making films.

Though the short film is anything but ground-breaking in terms of a standard template of drama film, it is very clear they took a safe route to get the idea of what a drama film should look like.  The scene starts off with a couple named Alex and Vicy (Any Ferreiras), hanging out in their apartment with a group of friends. Vicy is an aspiring actor who recently got a Visa sponsor by a Russian man approved to move to Los Angeles, United States so she can pursue her dreams as an actor.

While her friends are happy for Vicy, Alex was concerned about the application and well-being of getting a Visa sponsor by a Russian man. They get into a fight, and Vicy ignores the red flags, breaks up with Alex, and moves to Los Angeles anyway, then gets kidnapped. It is up to Alex to save Vicy.

It’s a simple plot device using some familiar roles influenced by past media that help make up the plot of the story. Let’s break down some implications from the plot. We have a “Russian” guy in the United States portrayed as the typical foreign bad guy. Bad guys are often portrayed as foreigners to a country to help imply they are evil.  With many past films showing Russians as bad guys in the United States, it was an easy decision to create this character to perpetuate this stereotype.

Another example regarding Alex and Vicy. Hero saves the damsel-in-distress. The hero, Alex, is a tall handsome male. The female, Vicy, is the naïve captive that falls into a trap she did not expect when she is off to an unknown part of the world. Alex becomes the fearless male to come rescue Vicy from the baddies.

The story has all the necessary components of establishing a beginning, arc, and end.  One could imagine the art of filmmaking is having to do storyboarding that breaks down into the simple blocks of how the film sets up the plot, adds the twist in the arc, and leave with an ending to close off the story.  This is likely how they approached this considering that this may be one of their first filmmaking debuts that are submitted through the film festival circuit to get some exposure for their work.

One note to point out is that this is Robert Feldmaier’s second script he has written, and it really shows the poise and determination of having to bring his ideas to life with a dedicated film crew to put this together.  Being able to pick up a pen and paper (or likely a laptop and Microsoft Word these days) to do create something out of nothing just because he wanted to gives much respect of how much he cares about doing more than just acting and contributing his own ideas for the film industry.  This is a shining example of someone who knows that regardless if this film succeeds or fails, Robert and his film crew can say that they did a short film and have something to show for it in their careers.

Any Ferriera’s portrayal of Vicy is a fine example of a damsel-in-distress character. Any was able to make her character believable in how much Vicy cares about her dreams no matter who gets in her way to pursue them.  Sure, there are bumps in the road, which is greatly emphasized in the film to help dramatize the situation. But Vicy still has a fearless side to prove her own independence when going out into the unknown part of the world.

The directing and editing for each scene are great for what they can accomplish, given the limited time and budget for this production.  Most of these shots likely had a couple of cameras used to create a few angles to focus on specific characters actions and dialogue to progress the story.  Overall, this is a great start to the entire cast and crews endeavour, and a true inspiration to others who want to contribute something to the film industry.

by: Trevor Brooks