An eleven-minute short, THE FINAL ACT OF JOEY JUMBLER follows a day in the life of party clown Joey Jumbler (Alain Boucher). A day that will take him from entertaining a rich family’s children to visiting his own daughter in her hospital room. A day of laughter and tears.

Written and directed by eighteen-year-old Harley Chamandy (The Maids Will Come On Monday) the film is surprisingly mature given the youth of its creator. The end credits carry a dedication “In Memory Of Rosalie Boucher 2007-2016)” which may explain some of how he captured emotions beyond his age so well. THE FINAL ACT OF JOEY JUMBLER feels honest and doesn’t go overboard with pathos like many films dealing with sick children. The cinematography is by Stéphanie Anne Weber Biron who has previously worked with Xavier Dolan among others. Her work matches the script’s tone nicely.

Chamandy seems to be somebody to keep an eye on. I hadn’t heard of him before but he’s already been invited to Black Factory Cinema’s workshop. There he made a film under the guidance of Werner Herzog. As there are only fifty slots available, that’s fairly impressive. The resulting film should be released soon. THE FINAL ACT OF JOEY JUMBLER, like his previous short MIRAGE, has done well on the festival circuit. It should be interesting to see where he goes from here.

THE FINAL ACT OF JOEY JUMBLER will be released online June 15th. It’s worth the time to watch.