Lafawn Davis: Celebs Rumors

Tara McNamara “Black Santa.” In two words, the progressively provocative title of Minneapolis-based Travis Wood’s Indeed Rising Voices short is likely to spark intrigue about this emergent filmmaker with a fresh perspective. The 10-minute comedy follows Henry, an Atlanta father who makes an annual tradition of working as a mall Santa Claus with his son Otis as an elf sidekick. Now in his self-conscious middle school years, Otis is embarrassed by the charade until he learns that his father has a noble ulterior motive: to help teach him how to upend stereotypes and increase positive Black representation. In both commercial and personal efforts, Wood specializes in telling stories about the Black experience.

Karen Idelson Georgia Fu was dying to get back behind the camera when she discovered Indeed’s Rising Voices competition.Fu hadn’t directed in nearly four years, but the idea of exploring the meaning of work resonated with the filmmaker. Her previous short films all had traditional narratives but Fu wanted to push herself as far as possible; she went all in with “Maps,” an ambitious, 15-minute film that spans 30 years in the life of a small Asian family, struggling to stay connected as work and ambition pulls them in different directions.“The script for ‘Maps’ was a beautiful and moving articulation of the meaning of work,” says LaFawn Davis, Indeed’s senior VP of environmental, social and governance. “The intergenerational narrative that Georgia weaved within the story was the singular vision that Rising Voices looks for in a final selection.” The title “Maps” is metaphor for the way the film charts the distance work puts between a mother and daughter.