A bright, blue sky welcomes us into Robert Moniot’s The Ice Cream Man, but it is one of the warmest images we will see throughout the shortlisted Live Action Short Film contender. As one family basks in the prospect of a new life, a fleet of ships zoom over the beach on May 10, 1940–the day that Germany invaded the Netherlands. Can hope stay alive as we witness the world changing before our very eyes? Moniot’s film is a new introduction to a slice of history unknown to many of us.

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