“Distance” by Richard Schertzer

“Distance” is one of those short films capable of awakening distant feelings, pleasant memories, which take us back to our childhood or youth and remind us why we love cinema. In fact, “Distance” is a brilliant example of youth cinema, created in an environment of student experimentation, which behind all the irrelevant technical defects and naivety of the narrative, reveal a deep love for the cinematographic language. The director of this short film, Richard Schertzer, besides being a young university student, is obviously a brilliant storyteller, and thanks to this film we are able to discover him in a significant moment of artistic growth. Despite a simplistic editing and an evidently sparse staging, the short manages to evoke feelings and attractions of undoubted strength, thanks to a good sense for visual narration.

“Distance” collects the difficult legacy of the historical moment in which we find ourselves living. Reality, in Schertzer’s mind, is however reworked until it is sublimated, until it reaches a new artistic form, original and unprecedented, capable of coping with the most unpleasant emotions with creative invention. “Distance” seems to convey a strange message of hope for humanity: perhaps we are forced to get closer, whether it is a collision or a hug. We are condemned to sociability or to an ultimate form of destruction when, for survival, we are forced to divide. In just a few minutes Schertzer manages to express this impulse of humanity, without ever losing sight of the narrative construction of suspense and anxiety. We hope to see more Schertzer films soon, because we know it will get better and better