User Reviews

It was an honor to screen this amazing film at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival. Director / writer Keyvan Sheikhalishahi is extremely talented and I'm positive we will see many more wonderful projects from him! If you get a chance to watch this short film, be sure you do! You won't be disappointed.

I love it ! Really, it's just amazing, the lights, the images, the links that are made, I mean everything is just perfect! I highly recommend it, the story is really great and well thought. I'm just shocked by the quality of the images, there is a real light game and I find it very very well achieved. I love it!

Divertimento is a great movie, the quality of the story and visuals are incredible. A very good script that captivates you. Impressive cast of actors with very good performance.

Keyvan Sheikhalishahi is a very talented director and screenwriter and I look forward to seeing his next movie!

Winner at the Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival 2020, Divertimento has it all, from top actors to master of directing and the beautiful lightning. One of my favourite short films of all time.

The movie and the performance of the actors are amazing. The story is interesting and full of twists. The decor and the special effects are impressive.

The perfect recipe for a successful film !

Won Best Short Film at the 2020 Paris Art & Movie Awards, listed "#1 film festival in Paris" by NBC. The movie lines up an incredible cast for a short film. The overall production shows the strong will of its director Keyvan Sheikhalishahi. The quality of the storytelling also makes us all waiting for his next movie!

The framings are mastered, the rendering is magnificent, the acting is subtle and terribly effective, in short, we are absorbed by the story.

A must-see short film!

A film that has the look of a major studio. The cast is of the highest caliber, the location is gorgeous and the story is engaging and compelling. Really great work from a director with a clear vision.

This film takes us into a universe and a captivating atmosphere from start to finish. Everything is good, the script, the actors, the lights, the music.... I really enjoyed seeing it!

Having previously enjoyed up coming director Keyvan Sheikhalishahi's earlier short films Nox and Vesper it's fantastic to see the French filmmaker continue to grow in his field with the 30 minute short feature Divertimento giving Sheikhalishahi both a bigger playground to operate in and a name brand cast that can help him bring his vision to life.

Centred around Kellan Lutz's chess playing Jonas Olsen, a man who has a troubled and mysterious past that has lead him to deal with the potentially nefarious Gustav (played by Ola Rapace) and also love interest Cathy (Torrey DeVitto), Divertimento is a layered and complex short film that see's Sheikhalishahi take on quite a load for an exercise that doesn't allow for a lot of growth or downtime but for the most part Divertimento remains an engaging and well-filmed offering that showcases the director is going to make for an exciting feature film director.

Feeling like a mix of James Bond thrills blended in with some Christopher Nolan like mind-melting, Sheikhalishahi's effort, that he also wrote, is a unique affair that doesn't want you to feel either at ease or like you've seen this type of narrative play out before and Lutz and his partner in crime Rapace make for a likeable double act that has you guessing motivations, who may be right and who may be wrong and just what exactly is behind an abnormal chess game taking place in a eerie and long-standing mansion.

While not everything narratively pays off and some of the films dialogue doesn't hit the way it was intended to, the craftsmanship and delivery in so many aspects of Sheikhalishahi's short film works too a much higher level than what is usually expected from this type of product and after a string of successful award winning appearances across festivals all over the globe, it's likely that Divertimento is a launching pad for Sheikhalishahi to make the leap into the big leagues in the not too distant future.

Final Say -

A polished and unique short film from the young talent that is Keyvan Sheikhalishahi, Divertimento is an above average short film that doesn't nail all it's landings but remains notable in many other ways.

3 bow ties out of 5

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

What you quickly notice about this thirty-minute movie is that it has all the trappings of sophisticated big-budget international thriller. It's set in a real 18th-century French château. The characters are elegant in formalwear and have arrived for an evening of mysteriously sophisticated games. The plot is just complex enough to keep us intrigued though also a bit confused. The leads (Kellan Lutz and Torrey DeVitto, familiar from US television) are drop-dead gorgeous. Swedish actor Ola Rapace and German actor Götz Otto are on hand as potential villains. Both are veterans of the James Bond movies, and that's clearly no coincidence, as this flick has a definite 007 vibe. During a tense chess match, we can easily imagine Rapace as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale. This isn't a straightforward thriller, though. As the story progresses, funny things happen with time and memory. In addition to the chess match, there is alternatively some kind of elaborate murder mystery evening going on, and we get intimations that there is another obscure level entirely to the action. Sure enough, by the end there is a twist worthy of a classic Twilight Zone episode. The film is quite well made - especially when you take into account that it's only the third movie by this filmmaker (Keyvan Sheikhalishahi, based in Paris) and that it was made when he was 21.

It doesn't feel like an indie movie, yet it's indie. It doesn't have all the tropes of a blockbuster, yet it feels like a blockbuster. It's not a short film, but not a feature either. Well, it's 'Divertimento' and it's crazy and massive and you should watch it, 'cause there is something here... very special.

Loved how the story is intellectual, and makes the moviegoer clearly work, and think, to bring it all together. Filled with plot twists and turns, it takes you on a psychological roller coaster ride from start to finish. Several questions are raised throughout and you think you know what's happening, what's true or false, until the end, which gives an answer to all the questions and is totally unexpected. But the movie is also pure entertainment, with a beautiful location, a mysterious mood and a brilliant cast. Not to forget the tension and the action, very creative.

A surprising film which doesn't let you indifferent. What you feel at the end is that this film is special, probably a masterpiece.

From the opening scene to the end Keyvan Sheikhalishahi surprises the audience, with remarquable actors who make the movie perfectly coherent and catchy. The rythme is perfect and the way the director adresses the theme of guilt is really interesting.

To sum up this short film is a masterpiece !

I couldn't take my eyes off the screen !

This short film takes us into a fascinating universe, which highlighted by talented actors/actresses, and a fantastic direction.

It's clever, original and very well-done Thank you for taking me on board of this brilliant twisted game.

This short is amazing, it's super intense and captivating. The scenario is also very good and well thought. But one of the biggest strength of this film is for me is his staging, all these shots in this big mansion are magnificent, the effects are mastered to perfection, in short, a very cool short.

Don't miss this classy, smart psychological thriller. From the casting (Kellan Lutz, Brittany Gonzalas, Gotz Otto) to the gorgeous set to the unique mysterious plot-this is a fantastic short from Keyvan Sheik. I was thrilled to interview him for the Black Hills Film Festival. His eye and discernment are marking him for major success in directing.

I loved the film Divertimento ! This short film is so visually amazing, the suspense was present from the beginning to the end...

At the end, it feels like an immersive and great experience with the contrast between light and dark, the high quality of the images, the musics, the all story and also the global atmosphere !

The places chosen for the film are so beautiful and magic... Also, the characters are deep and fascinating with a lot of complexity in there psychology...

I highly recommend to see this short film, especially for the the high sens of details in every aspect and in each scene.

An impressive short like you've probably never seen. Kellan Lutz teams up with Torrey DeVitto in a mysterious, dangerous game, and faces some tenacious competitors. But this game is much more than what it seems, hiding several secrets... as the narrator announces it at the beginning, in a very cold way.

The story is very ambitious, dealing with several topics and timelines (not only time but also reality) in a short time, which all make one single huge story. It's beautifully made, with a beautiful game of lights, and great music. There are film noir vibes in the castle which makes it stunning.

A must-watch short with a big production scale -- there is a thrilling central fight/shootout corridor scene, with two different connected timelines impactful to each other. This single scene alone is really crazy! The film can make you "remember" a Hitchcock film tone and more recently Fincher or Nolan.