Sophie's Shame

Sophie's Shame

Bruce Von Stiers

Shame is a film about sexual assault. It deals with a woman who was assaulted by a mutual friend. And how she is not able to confide in her best friend what happened.

This is a short drama film that runs for just under five minutes. In those minutes, the audience sees, and hopefully, feels the raw emotions that the woman is trying to overcome.

Ashna Sharan plays the woman, Sophie, who's been assaulted. Sophia Cofino plays her best friend and roommate, Wanda. Sharan co-starred in Unmasked and was in a couple of episodes of Our Flag Means Death. She also wrote the screenplay for the film.

Cofino has appeared in several short films and has been featured in the NY Times for her involvement in The Voices Project.

Wayne Jay plays the perpetrator of the crime and does the voice of a 911 operator. He's been in several short films along with a couple of mini-series.

Kelly Lynn Warren was the director. Aside from acting in about twenty films, she produced and directed several other short films.

Hussain Najam was the cinematographer. His previous work includes the short films The Bench and Out of Frame.

The film draws the viewer's attention to the awfulness of sexual assault and the shame that women often feel because of it. Could Sophie have resisted more? Should she have worn that dress? Did she do something that encouraged the assault? Those questions weren't specially spelled out in the film, but the humiliation and embarrassment were shown by Sophie's expressions and actions.

There is a message at the end of the film that shows a statistic on suicides of women who have suffered a sexual assault. Not only was the content of the film more than a bit disturbing, that message was jarring.

Shame is a very tense drama. We see Sophie falling apart but she can't seem to relate to what happened to Wanda. And there is a scene showing the sexual assault that is disturbing.

The acting in Shame was well done. Sharan is excellent as Sophie. And Cofino does a good job as the best friend who's somewhat oblivious to Sophie's pain.

Shame is an official selection in the upcoming Voices Rising Film Festival. The film was nominated for Best Short at the recent New Media Film Festival. And the film has also been submitted to the Santa Clarita International Film Festival as a possible selection for this year's upcoming festival.

Back to the BVS Reviews Main Menu

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _