JAMES ｜ Omeleto

A young boy tests a vaccine. In 1796, James Phipps is a young 8-year-old boy living in Gloucestershire, England. Smallpox is rampant, killing and disfiguring many people. His father works as a day laborer for Edward Jenner, a prosperous physician who has noticed that milkmaids who contract the milder disease of cowpox don't get smallpox. Jenner believes giving people a small amount of the milder disease will keep them from contracting the deadlier smallpox. After getting James's father's permission, Jenner uses James as his first test subject. James is unwell after the first inoculation, feeling weak and fevered, but he eventually recovers, a promising sign. But when it comes time to test the vaccine by injecting smallpox into him, James resists, putting a strain between his father and Jenner that may challenge their struggling family even further. Directed by Claire Oakley from a script written by Felix Levinson, this richly imagined short drama brings to life a faraway but significant event in scientific history. Many narratives celebrate Edward Jenner, the physician who created what's widely considered the world's first vaccine. This short, however, examines the young boy who was Jenner's first test subject, giving him a voice and emotions and raising insightful questions about scientific ethics and agency. In many ways, the storytelling is both perceptive and spare, with the writing focusing on James's emotions and perceptions instead of deluging viewers with background information. Well-placed visual details, rendered with richly naturalistic cinematography and camerawork, paint James's world as one of rural isolation and hard-scrabble poverty. But the specter of smallpox makes this life especially troubling for James, who watches with trepidation as many of the young children he knows in his community die from the disease.