Helio (18:30)
Dust.com; Dust.tv; IMDb; official website; Shadow Council Productions; YouTube

This 2015 short film was presented by Dust in 2017 (re-released in 2022).

This is set in a dystopian society, and um... I don't really know what to say about that. But there are rebels, and one of them breaks into a light clinic (where people can receive UV treatments, because the society isn't exposed to natural sunlight). His friend was hurt, and he wanted the people in the clinic to save them, but they couldn't, for various reasons, I guess. And there's another guy in the clinic, maybe he was a patient, I wasn't really clear on that. But he finds something dropped by the dying rebel, and um... soon the storm trooper-like police or whatever show up looking for the rebels, and end up chasing this other guy who found the object, and trying to shoot him down, as he runs through the dark and grimy city full of dark and grimy people. Also, he steals a pair of booster boots from one fallen trooper, which allow them to make short flights or something. I'm not really clear on that, or anything in this film. But this guy is trying to get to a ladder in the sky which leads... somewhere. I don't want to spoil how it ends, but I will say I wished more would have happened, that we could see what happens after he gets where he's going. Other than that, I'll just say there were neat visuals throughout the film, but not enough of a story for me to be as invested in it as I wanted to be.