Running $hoe$ is a short film about the challenges Ali Kassem faced when he first began training for a marathon. Instead of faithfully recreating his experiences, Kassem chooses to symbolically play-act them. For instance, the effort to develop his endurance is portrayed by repeatedly running through the frame on an outdoor track. His encounter with a passerby who teases him represents his own self-consciousness about his worn out shoes. There is comic relief in Kassem’s resilience, as he throws the shoes at the heckler and continues to run barefoot.
---Sydney Linares---