Indie Grits Festival | April 12-15 2018

Forgive Me

Thursday, April 12 at 2:00 PM
Friday, April 13 at 4:30 PM

Shorts Block: People Portraits
Tani Paige Shukla | Los Angeles, CA | 14 min
Genre: Student Film

After working long days as a hospital janitor, world-weary Isabel cares for her sister, Lupita, whose cancer has returned with a vengeance. Isabel tries to remain optimistic about her sister’s chances for recovery, but when Lupita’s pain becomes unbearable, she must confront a difficult choice in this wrenching narrative short.

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Meet The Filmmaker

We asked our filmmakers some questions about them and their work. For further questions, join us at the designated post-screening Q+A!

Tani Paige Shukla:

1. What is your connection to the South?  

Life in the South is the only life I know. It flows deep in my veins, from the comfort I feel on a humid day while others complain to the warmth I feel in my chest when someone says “How y’all doin’?” with a big ol’ grin. There’s a certain spirit in the South that transcends reality. I was raised in Florida and Texas, but my parents moved my siblings and I around quite often in those states. Not to mention all the road trips we’d do between the two states, immersed in the Deep South. I feel like I was able to have a childhood that exposed me not only to the greatness that is the South, but also the problems deeply rooted within it.

2. Where did you get your inspiration for this work? 

Perdóname (Forgive Me) comes from the conflicting ethical and religious beliefs I witnessed growing up in areas of Texas that were generally very Christian or Catholic. I wanted to tell this story, because I see faith as not so black and white. Familial love can sometimes test the boundaries of what you believe you’re capable of and it can even go so far as to change your beliefs all together. I hope that this film speaks to people who are going through rough times with their loved ones and urges them to be a little more selfless and empathetic of other’s points of view. Only then can we begin to move towards a greater universal understanding of one another.

3. How did you start making films? 

Growing up, I learned how to tell stories through my body and my voice. I was a dancer and an actor for most of my childhood, but there came a time when I was leaving high school and I felt as though I had yet to do what I was truly passionate about. I felt this passion for filmmaking. First things first was to finally make a film and I made my first just before I graduated high school. All the different pieces that come together to make a film truly intrigued me and I was itching to learn more, so I decided to go to film school and the rest is history.

4. Did anything interesting or funny happen on set during the shooting? 

During my years at The University of Texas’ film school, I always had the most fun shooting on film so I decided that we would shoot Perdóname all on 16mm. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had making a movie. However, my crew liked to tease me… a lot. We were shooting on April Fool’s Day and they were messin’ with me left and right because I am admittedly very gullible. So, my first AC was carrying a magazine through a packed set filled with film we shot on. He tripped and the magazine opened, pouring film all over the floor. I was shook and you could read it all over my face. Turned out to be a dummy roll and just another one of their horrific pranks on little ol’ me! 

5. What do you look forward to the most during Indie Grits? 

I’m sincerely looking forward to meeting all the other Southern filmmakers at Indie Grits and seeing their stories of the South.

Film Shorts

“In Dog Beers I’ve Only Had Two”: A Lesson for Beginners
11.15.91
A Name That I Admire
All Fried: Carolina Fish Camps
All The Beautiful Girls
All The In-Between
Amarillo Ramp
An Accidental Drowning
Atlantic City
Baby Oil
below the neck, above the knees
Blanko – “Hallelujah”
Bless These Sounds Under the City – “THE SLEEPING 8”
The BLM Bridge Protest: One Year Later
bridge/refrain
Can’t Kids – “Coperroni”
Care
The Checkout Line
Cowgirl Up
CPS Closings & Delays
Crutch
Dishing Out Community
dragons & seraphim
Earworm
Elizabeth Sees
F E B R A – “Fasterrrr”
Flagged: An American Love Story
Fluid Frontiers
Forgive Me
Fruit Don’t Fall Far
Gays for Trump?
GHOST_GIRL
Girls Rock Columbia
Grand Dragon
Growing Girl
Hair Wolf
Hardcore Wrestling Alliance
Hogwash
Kaye the Beast – “HEARD”
Kevin Devine – “Couldn’t Be Happier”
Kim Bush’s Abduction
Krista
Levitate, Levitate, Levitate
Lost Touch
me and my army
My Body Is Not My Own
My Name Is Marc, And You Can Count On It
Not For Medical Use
Nothing A Little Soap Can’t Fix
Ol Scratch
Pak Anggir
PARADE
The Passages of Pride
Post Nuke
Prayer for Roy Moore
Recuerdos de Sangre / Blood Memories
Roadside Attraction
Ruth
SDtoHDuprezMaxV2_009.mp4
Sequoyah – “Blue Jays”
Serpents and Doves
Siler City: Bienvenido a Trabajar
Skater Boy and Friendly Cop
Socks on Fire: Uncle John and the Copper Headed Water Rattlers
Station 15
Steve’s Kinkoes
Sunlit
Sweet Nothing
THESE COLORS DON’T RUN
This My Favorite Mural
Three Legged Dog
Tiger Toilet
The Traveler Takamure
You Can’t Play With Us