Marque Dos (2024)

Watch the Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1003274046?fl=pl&fe=vl

Striving for validation. Let’s be frank….we ALL want to be successful. Whatever we put our efforts into, ideally it is to make it culminate in the best possible results across the board, especially when it comes to what career path we are pursuing. We WANT to excel, to shine, to advance, to be acknowledged. AND…let’s hope that we also wish to better everyone around us to boot. However, what occurs when those whom we initially put our trust in suddenly become a burden instead of a boon? Do we falter under the weight of rejection? Or STAND UP for WHO WE ARE?

Brand ambassador and, perhaps, self-professed “influencer” Amira (Samira Beija) is one determined experimental marketing agent who is currently seeking her absolute dream position…that of tour manager for brand openings and store campaigns. Fully confident in her Afro-Latina heritage, supported by her doting mother Linda (Adargiza De Los Santos), and now on the cusp of the success she’s pushed for, what happens when the ugliness of stereotyping, misconception, and outright discrimination rear their heads against her??

One of the MANY things that I always do, and continue to, admire when it comes to the world of independent cinema is the manner in which the filmmakers within its community can just keep finding ways to take foundational concepts or themes that have been done extensively and STILL manage to bring about, for this critic anyway, inventive approaches to them that can provide both contemplation AND entertainment value. Plus, when this is accomplished via the specific medium of short film, I feel it is even more impressive. So, with this newest 13-minute effort from writer/director Asha Chai-Chang, executive producers Coco Mills and LaTasha Carter, consulting producer Via Bia, and associate producer Kiah Amara that tackles issues of self-identity, ethnic/racial prejudice, and overcoming the obstacles these create within and around us, it’s done with a beautiful combination of dramatic, compelling intent and outright, engaging wit that makes the film a complete winner across the board.