¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Fest’s Winner Victorya Cintra’s latest short film, Tea For Two, imagines a not-so-distant future where American women have been reduced to dutiful housewives. They roam around in their colorful yet confining dresses, forced to serve the men in their lives. Forced to make themselves smaller and forced to exist in a world where birth control has been banned. It’s a haunting and timely portrayal on Cintra’s part. One that echos the sentiment she mentioned when we last spoke: “My subject matter will always be women and girls.” As our main character, Maria, sits on the couch with her besties for book club, donning vibrant yet modest dresses, we learn there may be an ulterior motive to their gathering.
Cintra’s playful cinematography is on full display, as the dismal reality is sugarcoated in a distracting layer of bright colors. Vivid paintings and brilliant bible verses cover the walls. While it’s a stylistic choice on Cintra’s part, it also adds to the feeling of being trapped. Existing in a world where your own identity has been reduced to an accessory of someone else’s. That contrast between dark themes and light atmospheres helps add to the reality, as women are often expected to be subservient with a smile on their faces. The end result is effective, and throughout the 15-minute short, the Brazilian-American filmmaker proves why she won Cine Youth Fest’s Spotlight Award.
Tea For Two feels like a breath of fresh air, offering a smart and even lighthearted approach towards this topic despite its heaviness. While the short doesn’t have a release date yet, follow Victorya Cintra so you’ll be the first to know when it’s out!
Click here to read our coverage of the ¡Tú Cuentas! Cine Youth Fest and a short interview with Victorya Cintra.
