A seated look at the pandemic's toll

Whilst most visual responses to the ongoing pandemic have been lighthearted looks at the challenges of lockdown and the trauma of homeschooling, there's a higher toll that has been all-too-infrequently addressed.

Redressing this balance is writer/director/producer Sye Allen's delicate, intimate and sincerely constructed short The Empty Chair.

Framed as a love letter to all those we've lost as a result of the pandemic, the film's poetic narration, brilliantly delivered by Kate Dickie, and creeping visuals, DOP Sam Care providing gorgeous photography, also speaks of those intimate collective experiences that we've all missed of late.

Backing the action is an original composition soundtrack from Academy Short winner Nico Casal; the music intertwining with the visuals and storytelling to compound the emotion.