Holding Court is a grounded drama set over the course of a single evening inside one house, where what appears to be an unruly party reveals itself to be something far more intimate and painful. 

Through naturalistic performances and restrained visual composition, the film contrasts the noise of public ritual with the concealed interior life of a grief-suppressed teen. It invites the audience to confront their impulse to “get the story” quickly, and to instead, sit longer, listen closer, and recognize that we rarely know what another person is carrying.

What happened?

Tragedy struck, and it knocked him sideways. 

Now all Court wants is escape—from his life, from the rule of an estranged aunt, and from the grief he refuses to face. 

When a rare opportunity arises to impress a representative from a prestigious writing conservatory, Court, an aspiring spoken-word artist, sees a way out. But as party-minded guests flood his house at the worst possible time, he struggles to find a quiet place to finish the spoken word piece that could change everything. 

Time runs out. The woman leaves. Escape hatch shut and sealed. With nowhere left to run, Court confronts who he's been avoiding all night. Is he ready? Can he speak the truest, most painful words he’s ever allowed himself to say?

Who is Court?

Court is a gifted but inward 17-year-old aspiring poet who wants one thing: escape—out of his life, this house, and into a world-class conservatory across the country. 

Sheltered, loved, and largely insulated his whole life, he’s unprepared for the social onslaught of the night that exposes how little he understands about his own family and background. 

Tonight, Court believes acceptance into the conservatory will steady his tragedy-shaken world. But his obstacle isn’t just the partygoers overcrowding his house, or his intimidating aunt. Court’s biggest obstacle is his own refusal to confront feelings of abandonment, anger, and grief.

Why is this relevant now?

We may be losing the capacity to listen to and really see one another. Action and quick judgment are rewarded over patient understanding

Holding Court is a story designed to resist impatience.

It asks audiences to listen and, in time, allow their assumptions to be uncomfortably revised by someone else's own words and real-time experience.

Who is this for?

Holding Court is for people who have felt unseen, mislabeled, or pressured to 'move on' before they were ready. 

It speaks to those willing to sit with emotional complexity—especially in a culture that favors speed and certainty. The film invites audiences to examine how quickly we interpret others, and what not listening to or seeing one another might cost us.

A letter from Ralston, Writer-Director

Have you ever experienced a moment when a person is standing right in front of you and can’t see you? There you are, existing, maybe hurting, just trying to make a human connection… and it’s like you’re invisible. I mean, they see what you look like, how you talk, how you move, but they don’t really see you. Because there’s no time for that anymore. No appetite for curiosity. So, without actually looking, they listen just enough, place a label on your chest, and decide they know your whole story before you’ve gotten three sentences out.

Have you ever experienced that?

Yeah, me too. All the time, actually. 

And it made me want to write this story.

Holding Court is a short film that explores a painful truth: we don’t actually know what another person is carrying, but the world around us encourages us to assume we do—without asking or listening.

So it asks the question, "What are you carrying?"

At the center of our film is Court, a grief-suppressed teen trying to escape his own painful truth by chasing achievement and a future somewhere else. 

But what happens when your pain can’t be outrun?

What happens when the unprocessed trauma you’re carrying gets too heavy?

What breaks?

We follow as Court struggles to write a soul-searching poem to get into a world-class writing conservatory as his house is overrun by partygoers at the worst possible time. It’s a grounded, performance-driven drama that will use restrained visuals, naturalistic performances, and emotional honesty to bring you alongside Court. To let you feel like you're not just witnessing, but experiencing a real moment that won’t offer an easy conclusion.

Because this is what life, and your story, is really like.

And it’s what makes asking and listening hard today. 

We live in a culture that rewards certainty and speed, desensitizing us to what another person is carrying. Holding Court challenges us to be patience, pay close attention, and find comfort in the discomfort of letting our assumptions be revised.

Your support helps us create the conditions this good story needs to be told well: a small crew, the right cast, a great location, and just enough time, care, trust to do some emotionally demanding work.

If, like me, you’ve ever felt unseen, misread, or carried something others never bothered to ask about, then I invite you to help us tell a story that asks culture to slow down, look closer, and consider what someone else may be carrying.

Who’s making this?

Ralston Vaz

Designer, Communicator, Writer-Director

After two decades in design, Ralston writes and directs films shaped by questions of faith and hope. His work centers on human discovery, visual storytelling, and stories that deepen empathy across difference.

Alicia Vaz

Entrepreneur, Coach, Producer

Alicia brings expertise in community engagement and strategic planning, aligning teams and securing partnerships. She protects creative intent, maximizes limited resources, and fosters a safe, collaborative environment for the work.

What else have they made?

By Five (2023) is a character-driven short examining selflessness through emotional restraint and tension. 

Watch By Five on Vimeo here.

WANDER - DIRECTOR’S CUT (2025) explores parental anxiety through immersive, camera-forward storytelling. 

Watch WANDER - DIRECTOR’S CUT on Vimeo here.

Both films were performance-driven and actor-centered, prioritizing behavior over spectacle. Each project demonstrates Ralston’s ability to guide emotionally charged performances and shape intimate, interior drama—foundations that Holding Court builds upon at a larger scale.

How will audiences see Holding Court?

With your support, our strategy to bring this film to the right audience will be executed in three parts:

1. Place the film with intention.

We’ll prioritize alignment over volume, placing the film in rooms where audiences will sit with discomfort, engage the work, and allow their assumptions to shift.

2. Focus on aligned festivals.

We’ll pursue programming in festivals with a penchant for performance-driven dramas, submitting to respected regional events that value thought-provoking, character-led storytelling.

3. Extend the life of the film.

We’ll position festivals as the film’s first audience, make appearances at screenings to help create space for conversation (press, Q&As, etc.), then transition to a curated online release after our festival run. 

When I donate, how will my funds be used?

Among the many things crucial to making an excellent short film, your generous donation enables: 

• A single-location production with a minimal, performance-focused crew.
• Securing the right cast who can believably carry the weight of the story’s characters. 
• Dedicated rehearsal time and a safe environment for emotionally demanding work.
• Careful finishing in post-production (editing, grading, sound design, score).
• A strategic festival run that extends the film’s reach and impact.

By the way, how was AI used in this campaign?

Administratively, we used AI tools for pseudo ‘thought partnership’, helping to improve strategies, aid in research, double check grammar, etc.—always with the instruction to think with us, not for us. Our people were and will continue to be accountable authors and creators, ensuring the accuracy and humanity of our work.

Visually, many hours of human thought and manual creative refinement (Ralston has a deep visual design background) plus an AI tool were used to craft each of the concept images seen on this page. We wanted to thoughtfully give a sense of what these moments from the story feel like in our imagination, not just how they’d look. Every human figure in these concept images, however, was meticulously defined and created by Ralston. None are based on or intended to resemble any actual human. 

AI was not at all used in the writing or revising of the screenplay for Holding Court. 

The concept trailer was shot without AI and with the generous participation and support of family and several friends in Ralston and Alicia’s apartment on Saturday, May 23, 2026. It was lovingly edited and finished in DaVinci Resolve Studio by Ralston.

You slowed down, looked closer, and considered what we’re carrying with this film. 

You are beautiful, and you give us hope for the success of this project.

Thank you. We love you. 

+ralston & alica