Slamdance 2022 Film Festival Premiere – Two sisters look for love in Los Angeles. A simple, familiar premise, right? Only… they’re witches. Don’t worry – they’re good witches! Just… a little wishy washy (witchy-washy witchsters?) on what “good” means… like surely, enhancing your boyfriend’s …er … member… isn’t a bad thing right? He’ll love it. Win-win! Or, maybe not so much.

Cute, irreverent Witchsters is an adorable mockumentary following sisters Michelle and Maya (Jemina Lauriston, Sasha Compère) on a perfectly normal day. They’re supposed to go out to lunch – but Michelle got a little too excited with the magic and now she has to do damage control with her boyfriend Jeremiah (Jerah Milligan). Silly, NSFW, delightful – Witchsters isn’t going to burst through any glass ceilings or lay the groundwork for the next great series, but this simple short, which also acts as a proof of concept for a series version, is a lot of fun in a tight little package (no pun intended, mostly).

Have tiny crew, will travel – the listed crew on the official press kit for Witchsters consists only of writer/director/producer Charla Lauriston, Director of Photography Avi Kaye, and Sound mixer Jose Gallo. Having been on many a tiny crew myself, I applaud this small but mighty team for making the most of what looks to be a single day of filming, in a single location, with less than 10 people on set. Bravo.

Witchsters has already earned its laurels at the 2021 Austin Film Festival and NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, and is now making itself known at the Slamdance 2022 Film Festival.

6 out of 10