{"id":4420,"date":"2026-01-29T10:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/sundance-2026-short-film-program-i\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:49:10","slug":"sundance-2026-short-film-program-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/sundance-2026-short-film-program-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Sundance 2026: Short Film Program I"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cThe Oracle<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> by JJ Adler (\u201cNew Media\u201d)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtesy of the official press kit for \u201cThe Oracle.\u201d <\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A skeptic, a hippie and a felon claiming Dissociative Identity Disorder all walk into a bar \u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Conrad Smolinsky (Kurt Fuller, \u201cPsych\u201d) is a psychiatrist by day and a crotchety old man by night, tormented by the swarm of bohemians dancing around his free-spirited neighbor\u2019s fire pit. Conrad is at his wit\u2019s end with the imagination of his current patient, Mark (Brandon Scott Jones, \u201cThe Good Place\u201d), a convicted con artist claiming to be mentally unfit. It is not until a hypnotherapy session with Mark reveals a strange message from Conrad\u2019s dead twin brother that he begins to shake off his skepticism of spirituality.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elements of fantasy and absurd circumstances juxtapose the banal, orderly rhythm of Conrad\u2019s life, injecting the film with an experimental and refreshing flavor that pairs well with its inspired humor. When we first meet Mark, he is sitting cross-legged and speaking in a high-pitched voice. He flippantly corrects Conrad and tells him to call him Myrtle \u2014 zoom out to reveal a blinking ankle monitor and an exasperated Conrad. The dialogue of \u201cThe Oracle\u201d is rhythmic and snappy, volleying back and forth like a witty, sharp-tongued tennis ball. Fuller, who has historically deferred leading roles, flexes his acting muscles to nail both the comedy and the complicated needs of personifying a man riddled with exhaustion, grief and desperation.\u00a0<\/p>\n