All In Favor

Santiago Requejo's live action short, which is on the Oscars' shortlist, considers how quickly latent prejudices can assert themselves in the right setting.

It's a residents meeting at an apartment block and each owner is voting on the funding for a new lift. Everything is amicably settled, until one of those present (Raúl Fernández de Pablo) lets slip his plans for renting out his apartment. What initially seems as though it will be a celebration of the event quickly turns sour when he reveals that the new tenant is a work colleague who came to the company via a programme for people with mental health issues.

The themes, while highlighting everyday prejudice many people with mental health issues face, are heavily handled. Almost everyone at the meeting is suddenly quite happy to voice their negative opinions about the prospective tenant, which seems an unlikely turn of events in the modern era and robs the film of its subtlety - a feeling only reinforced by its final turn of events.

Requejo shows skill in the film's framing, using the single-take device - nimbly shot by Javier Bermejo - to add to the claustrophobia.