There are a lot of short films that make their way through the festival system every year. It’s almost impossible to review all of them, so it’s a real treat when a film like STATIC SPACE is put in front of you.

Set in rural Indiana, this short film directed by Kate Black-Spence and John Klein (also one of the DPs) is based on a novel by Geonn Cannon and is about a lonely young woodworker named Jamie (Kate Black-Spence doing double duty as director and lead) who receives a HAM radio as payment for a job that the customer couldn’t afford to pay cash for, and finds herself talking to Noa (Mariah Copeland) who is flying around in a one-woman space shuttle.

This short film is on the longer side at about a half an hour, but the characters are really likeable, and the visuals and overall production value so top notch that you tend to forget the time and just find yourself immersed in the movie, investing yourself in Noa and Jamie’s burgeoning friendship.

After going through a multi-year pandemic, stories about connection seem to be what a lot of filmmakers are creating these days, and some are better than others based upon their personal stories or other source material. STATIC SPACE is a perfect example of a story about connection that doesn’t get bogged down in the sadness of it all, and instead focuses on the hopeful aspects of the future.

I have a personal connection to this film too. Not to the cast or crew or anything directly like that, but like the main character, during the pandemic I took up woodworking (furniture making) as a way to cope with the withdrawal from society and found solace in the solitude of creating something from nothing. If I can relate to this movie, I have to imagine there are many other that can via their own personal experiences over the last several years.

The premise of the movie isn’t even that farfetched. There are people in a space station orbiting the planet right now that are dealing with the isolation of being away from their loved ones. This movie is labeled as being in the romance and sci-fi genres, but it feels entirely grounded.

The soundtrack and sound design are subtle and work so well as they are woven in and out of the narrative.

Technically speaking, I can’t find anything at fault in this movie. The acting and the script are tight (even at a half hour long). It’s just a beautiful film.