“I’m In Love: A Soft Rebellion of Self-Discovery”

What if love wasn’t a destination but a compass guiding us back to the very heart we keep forgetting to trust? That’s the burning question at the center of ''I’m In Love'', the cinematic spoken-word offering written and performed by Havilah Malone and directed with piercing intimacy by Roberta Sparta.

More than a short film, this piece is an incantation. Malone’s voice doesn’t just narrate but it hypnotizes, pulling us through a labyrinth of whispered confessions and hard-won revelations. Each “gift” the protagonist encounters is less a prop than a breadcrumb on the trail toward self-recognition. And isn’t that the oldest story of all—the love we search for out there, only to find it waiting within?

Sparta’s direction refuses safe distance. Her lens hovers close, as if daring us to squirm in the presence of such unflinching vulnerability. Clean visuals and a deliberate pace hold space for the words to breathe—landing, lingering, and finally liberating. The sound design, subtle yet immersive, feels like the pulse of a secret we’ve all carried.

Yes, there are moments where one might wish for more traditional narrative scaffolding and more dramatization, more “plot.” But perhaps that longing is the point. ''I’m In Love'' is less about story and more about surrender. It asks us not to consume, but to feel. Not to watch, but to remember.

In a cinematic landscape too often obsessed with spectacle, Malone and Sparta have carved out a soft rebellion: a love letter to the self, tender yet defiant, simple yet seismic. This is spoken word as cinema, cinema as ceremony.

So, what if love really is the safest place we could ever know? ''I’m In Love'' dares us not only to believe it—but to believe ourselves.