Nani: Exploring Friendships Through Graffiti

“Nani,”directed by Justin Tipping, is a short film of a troubled youth named Oscar who gets caught spraying graffiti, and must then do community service at a nursing home. During his time there, he becomes close with an older woman named Isabel who is intrigued by Oscar’s graffiti outside the nursing home. Eventually, they become close and practice graffiti throughout their neighborhood.

I enjoyed this short film because of the way it was shot. Handheld shots were used throughout the film to capture Oscar and Isabel’s journey with street art--making you feel as if you are actually there with them in those scenes. It was refreshing to see how creative the film director and producer were able to tell a positive story of graffiti, and how street art can be used to connect communities, instead of reinforcing the negative stigma that has been historically associated with graffiti.