Craig Downing

Farrah is a high class escort.  It just kind of happened. Maybe she cares.  Maybe she doesn’t—it’s hard to tell as she bluntly shares her story.  She faces you and the questions but not the camera during this revealing short documentary. Many shorts win us over for showcasing stunning visual details, but this short stands out for showcasing an authentic story without seeing all the details.

Creators Dan Covert and Andre Andreev secure a significant level of trust that allows us to hear about Farah’s experience as an escort. We don’t see the face of the main character. And, we don’t see any of the other people in the story.  It’s all about her authentic narrative.  For example, with this short, if you took out Farrah’s voice, you’d only be left with a sterile real estate property video.  You add Farrah’s testimony and then the entire context changes.  The tone of her narrative compliments perfectly the cold and functional images of her hotel room. Every shot takes on a new context as Farrah continues to share.

Farrah isn’t the kind of person who would just sit down with you and simply chat about her line of work. But, here she does–openly and honestly.  She mentions the challenges of her work as one might do when complaining about over scheduling too many conference calls in one day.  It’s work.  Do you daydream during work meetings?  So does Farrah.  During conference calls, do you furtively make plans for after work? So does Farrah.  She goes on.  For someone who has created a complete false persona for her work, she is starkly honest about what she does.

Dan and Andre, within a short period and with a simple set up, allow us to learn the timeline of how Farrah became a escort, what it’s like being an escort and what Farrah’s future plans are. The film presents all of this in a way that doesn’t over emphasis anything—allowing us to hear her authentic story, but also keeping us distanced enough to feel uninvolved.

Dan and Andre trained as graphic designers and initially worked with print and motion graphics.  Later, creating motion graphics at MTV, Dan and Andre also had the chance to direct a few live action spots.  Eventually they formed their own company Dress Code.  While initially they were a full service design company, they found themselves still drawn to film.  They continue to support motion graphics, but Dan and Andre directed a number of profiles on a wide range of subjects as they chip away at their goal of developing a full feature.