Riley Hamilton Reflects on “Third”
May 1, 2025
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IPH Staff member Riley Hamilton reflects on “Third”, a student short from last year’s festival.
“You got far away, dude. It sucks.”
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A film can be loud. A film can be silent. A film can be loud in its silence. That’s what filmmaker Sebastian Zufelt is able to patiently craft with “Third,” a film that was featured in the student shorts category at the 2024 Charlotte Film Festival.
In “Third,” a college student returns to the hometown he loves. There, he reunites with an old friend and rekindles with an old flame (there’s a fire joke in there somewhere.) Very quickly, he discovers that his old friend and old flame have been seeing each other in his absence. Ouch.
About six-and-a-half minutes is all it takes for Mr. Zufelt to tell a small story with huge emotion and equally large ideas about life and love. Behind actor Micah Meyers’ eyes, you can imagine what thoughts and questions are racing through his rattled brain as he navigates becoming a third wheel. What if I never left? Should I have stayed? Should I say something? Am I allowed to be mad? Is all of this my fault? Are these my friends? In this film, and often in life, these questions have no definitive answer. Sometimes, all you can do is stare helplessly at the horizon and watch the ships roll by and by and by.
Also, any film that mentions “Phantom Thread” in any capacity is already a winner in my eyes. Still, it didn’t hurt that every other moment in the film was a delight to watch and an ache to feel.
