SMALL ACTS, BIG REWARDS (A FRIEND OF DOROTHY)

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A FRIEND OF DOROTHY

Right from the moment Stephen Fry appears onscreen, you can see why Academy voters were swayed enough to nominate the English 21 minute comedy 'A Friend of Dorothy' for Best Live Action Short.

A sweet natured tale of an unlikely friendship between Miriam Margolyes' pensioner Dorothy and Alistair Nwachukwu's Afro-Caribbean teen JJ, Lee Knight's short has a cheeky title for a start.

It has two British national treasures as well in the shape of Margolyes and Fry.

But there's also a delightful English eccentricity to it.

In Knight's short, Margolyes' Dorothy Woodley first encounters JJ after he kicks a football into her back garden and knocks on her door to retrieve it.

Inviting him inside her house to retrieve the ball on condition that he also opens a can of prunes for her, they quickly bond as he waits for her to retrieve her keys and marvels at her collection of plays in her bookcase.

Noticing his interest, Dorothy elicits from JJ that he would like to be an actor and she encourages him to read aloud a scene from EM Forster's 'The Inheritance'.

Revealing she and her late husband used their fortune to fund local theatre groups, she encourages JJ to visit her daily and practice his acting.

When she passes away, JJ encounters hostility from her obnoxious grandson, Oscar Lloyd's Scott before the reading of her will by Fry's executor Dickie.

But is Scott's hostility necessary?

What develops is a charming tale about friendship across different generations and backgrounds and a common love of the theatre.

Vibrantly shot by Vanessa Whyte, Knight's short boasts eye catching production design by Amanda Bernstein, lively art direction by Noa Goda and well chosen costumes by Fracisco Rodriguez-Weil.

It's the kind of sweet natured short that might just woo Academy voters just like Terry and Oorlagh George's comedy 'The Shore' in 2012 or Tom Berkeley and Ross White's 'An Irish Goodbye' in 2023.

A lot of that is down to Margolyes, Nwachukwu, Fry and Lloyd's perfectly judged performances.

But actor, writer and director Knight also has an eye for a memorable image and a cheeky sense of humour that you hope he will continue to explore in future projects behind the camera.

As a directorial calling card, 'A Friend of Dorothy' is a pretty damn good one.

('A Friend of Dorothy' was premiered at the Raindance Film Festival on June 25, 2025

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