SLAMDANCE ’26: Unstoppable Shorts
| Title: Seaweed Snacks (2025) Director: Sylvia Ray Writer: Brandyn Johnson Studio: Film Independent: Project Involve IMDb Plot: A hard-edged dad just wants to survive another birthday party, but when a try-hard super dad won’t take “no” for an answer, things get real awkward – real fast. Joe Says: Slightly dark, sharply funny, and just unhinged enough to feel familiar. |
A relatable comedy about a divorced dad trapped in a conversational quagmire with an over-caffeinated super dad, Seaweed Snacks nails the social horror of the kid birthday party circuit. Slightly dark, sharply funny, and just unhinged enough to feel familiar.
Patrick Cage II stars as Ellis, a soft spoken, artsy dad whose only goal is to survive the afternoon with minimal eye contact. Kamal Bolden’s Rick barrels in as his gregarious counterpart, dispensing fatherly wisdom, honeymoon lore, and what may or may not be a crypto pyramid scheme, at full volume and zero distance. Their chemistry crackles. Cage plays it cool and quiet; Bolden gleefully invades personal space like it is a competitive sport.
Written by Brandyn Johnson and directed by Sylvia Ray, the short film wastes no time setting its stage with the stakes and plows ahead with the chaos. Breezy and bright with a bite underneath, Seaweed Snacks feels like a sunlit sitcom episode that knows exactly when to fade to black. For anyone who has ever hidden behind a juice box to avoid small talk, this one lands with the impact of a dad joke.
This review – and much more – is available as part of Cinefied’s Slamdance 2026 coverage
Be sure to catch Seaweed Snacks – and many other indie projects – over at Slamdance
Read @ Joe’s 
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