GraceLand

Greetings again from the darkness. As parents, we never know what will click with our kids. Of course we may nudge them towards sports over theatre, or marching band over debate, but the wonder of life is that personality and interest usually guide those decisions more than mom or dad. Such is the case in writer-director Bonnie Discepolo's 6th short film.

Anna Camp stars as the well-meaning and devoted mother to Grace (newcomer Katie Beth West), a young girl who suddenly finds her dresses and bows out of step with what she feels. We see her in the bathroom snipping off her long hair and using dark shoe polish to hide her blonde tresses. Sporting a leather jacket and new look, Grace and her mother have a standoff in the kitchen, with a reassuring husband offering up the good old 'just a phase' to ease his wife's frustration.

There is an awkward parent-teacher conference where the school's policy of going with the students' preferred name and gender, results in Grace identifying as a boy named Elvis. Mom unloads on her husband the parental cry uttered so many times over the years: "I just want a normal life with a normal family". Of course, as anyone with a family can attest, there is no "normal". We aren't privy to what inspired the change in Grace and why the connection to Elvis, but a Talent Show performance drives home what's really important to herself and her parents. It's a lesson some learn faster than others.