'LAST MINUTES WITH ODEN' & OTHER SHORTS BY ELIOT RAUSCH

Warning: be prepared to shed tears!

Eliot Rausch has become one of my favourite shorts directors, time and time again putting forward beautiful, heartfelt, emotional films with a clear creative talent behind them. His talent was quickly noticed and he has since worked with many brands on advertising campaigns (inclduing Epedia, Vans, and Duracell) as well as his own projects, four of which I've included here.

The first video is the documentation of the last few minutes of a truly beloved dog's life, and won Best Documentary at the 2010 Vimeo awards, amongst others. I sat in my room and cried at this video the first time I saw it, and I still cry every time I watch it (I have to be careful how often I watch it, because despite it being so incredibly beautiful and moving, it really messes up my day). I know people get cynical, and I'm guilty of it sometimes too, but anyone who's ever had a dog I'm sure will agree with the strength of the emotions portrayed here. It might sound silly to some, but the companionship and loyalty and trust that is in that relationship is special and to some, invaluable. Jason 'Woody' Wood features in a few of Rausch's films, and I'm astounded at his bravery in agreeing to be filmed.

His careful use of sound and narration are intrinsic to the success of his films, and I often find myself listening to the sound alone, which I feel marks a truly well put together piece - everything even works by itself, but put together it's something new. The fact that he uses Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) in the soundtrack to 'Last Minutes with Oden' gets him extra points with me too! Though, every time I listen to that song now all I can see is poor Woody cycling in the rain with Oden's empty lead.

Rausch certainly has a talent for tugging at the audience's heartstrings, but I don't feel that it's in a contrived manner, as some of the subject matter might lend itself to. This evening I watched a few videos I hadn't seen before, including 'Pennies Heart' (warning, cute little girl needing heart transplant, happy ending though) and the video below, made with the 25k grant from Vimeo, and featuring undocumented young people in the US. It's so interesting to give real faces to the some of the 'undocumented' citizens, which are very often forgotten. I firmly believe that everyone deserves the same opportunities as everyone else, and these three people have worked so hard and been an obvious positive influence in their communities - they deserve to be recognised for that. They've worked to be good citizens and they should be rewarded with basic rights for it. 'Limbo' showcases this perfectly in my view.