Pilgaard’s short focuses on an event that, unfortunately, became a constant in many countries in the later years. Eva, played by Cecilie Elisabeth Bogø Bach, witnesses a school shooting at her college. She runs away from the attackers and finds a place to hide in a big auditorium. She tries one of the front doors, but there is already someone hiding there. Without any solution left, she goes under the seats in the middle row and prays for the best. She calls the police, she calls her mother, but most importantly, she calls one of her friends in another hideout. What she hears on the phone and how the whole situation degenerates is easy to imagine. But at some point, the bullets stop flying, and that’s the moment of total confusion, where you don’t know whether you are safe or in greater danger.

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The combination between the one-point perspective and the first-person shots gives Cecilie Elisabeth Bogø Bach’s role a greater meaning. For the whole twenty-three minutes, we can see her managing her feelings, suffering a panic attack, trying to cope with the entire idea that it is possible she may not see her family ever again, and at the same time living with the hope that everything will be all right in the end. Bach’s performance is outstanding, delivering superb and powerful emotions that can quickly bring chills on the spine.

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Pilgaard surprises us again with a short that exceeded all of our expectations. We are familiar with his work from previous projects, and after watching ‘Incident at school,’ we can easily say that his artistry is exquisite. As it was in ‘Behold, such clown’, the level of detail and the constant waves of pure emotions hit us fully. Pilgaard is the master of saying a lot with very little, the master of creating a narrative that can keep you on the edge of your seat just through compelling emotions. A true masterpiece of our generation!

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Written by Vlad A. G