This is another review from the HollyShorts Film Festival (13-23 Aug).
For Niko (Alexandra Shipp, 2025)
Musician Rose juggles her ambitions as a singer and musician with the management of her teenage son, Niko, who has special needs.
There’s a story here in For Niko about Rose being a black woman, a single mum, and a breadwinner who can’t even access help to place her son in an appropriate school.
We see Niko, growing, in the house, and hear about his exclusion from schools who don’t have adequate support for his “difficulties”. But Rose can always dream that life will be OK.
Alexandra Shipp is writer, director and lead performer as Rose. She gives herself a song of truth towards the end that does seem quite sentimental but fits the mood of not quite being seen or heard.
She’s exploited and sidelined by men all along the line: Niko, his teacher, his absent father, her record producer, a chiseling lawyer who can help but only at an inflated price.
When a woman is overlooked in this way, it is a familiar story, but the addition of a personal dilemma – to stand in the shadows for her son’s sake – makes For Niko a strong film, with an ending that packs a punch.
It feels claustrophobic, with scenes in Rose’s kitchen, car and the corridors of her record label. Shipp offers warm tones and a positive tone despite Rose’s struggles.
For Niko is part of this month’s HollyShorts Film Festival.