Baby Mine starts a simple plot about the nightmare of parental abduction. But director Nour Wazzi (Lab Rat) and her co-writers Shirine Best and Eleanor Emptage have more on their mind than a simple thriller.

Sarah (Rachael Stirling, Centurion) and Soroush (Alexander Siddig, Reign of Fire, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) were a couple. Now they’re separated, the only thing they have in common is their daughter Etti (Grace Taylor). When Soroush kidnaps Ettit Sarah turns to her racist neighbour Mike (Alex Ferns, Eastenders) for help.

Meant as a look at racism and our perceptions of people based on their race or nationality, Baby Mine didn’t go the way I expected. Indeed I was actually wondering if I’d missed something until the reveal. And then I realized I had missed a very obvious clue. One that probably proves the director’s point. Despite knowing what the film was setting out to do, it managed to catch me, that takes some damn good writing.

Running twenty minutes Baby Mine manages to make its points while avoiding becoming heavy-handed or preachy. I do wish the thriller aspects of the story had been better done though. Tracking Etti and her father is all very straight forward and a bit too easy to generate much suspense. The ending is quite effective though and left me feeling sad and angry. Obviously I can’t say why, but once you see it you’ll feel the same way.

You can see Baby Mine on Omeleto, a platform for short films. I actually hadn’t heard of Omeleto before this, and in looking it over I noticed a few other shorts I’ve seen including The Dead Ones and The Bumbry Encounter. It certainly looks like a good resource for fans of short films. You can check the film’s Facebook page for updates and information on the director’s other projects.