ShortFest 2024: Yvonne Strahovski takes on mommy vlogging

Ema Sasic, Palm Springs Desert Sun

Updated June 13, 2024 at 11:10 PM·6 min read

Anyone who uses Instagram right now is used to seeing glamorous vacation photos, videos of complex skincare routines and scenes of homes in tip-top shape (despite the children and pets running around).

No one manages to do this better than mommy vloggers. These women show they're superheroes as their videos document how they get their kids ready for school, what they make for lunch and how they unwind after a stressful day.

But is everything they post a true indication of what their lives look like? The new short film "Vlog" begs to differ.

Directed/written by and starring Yvonne Strahovski of "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Dexter," "Vlog" gives us an exclusive look at what a day in the life of a mommy vlogger actually looks like, and it consists of everything you don't see on their feeds: Lots of screaming, throwing food, fighting, crying (from both the kids and mom) and exhaustion. But once that ring light turns on and the recording starts, it all magically goes away.

"Vlog" is one of 310 films part of the 30th annual Palm Springs International ShortFest, taking place June 18-24. The film will screen at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 22 at Regal Palm Springs as part of the "Like & Subscribe" program.

It marks Strahovski's first time directing and writing her own project, outside of a short film she worked on when she graduated from drama school. During the pandemic, she started thinking about creating her own projects, and "Vlog" came to mind as a way to test herself and see if she could wear different storytelling hats.

With her first project, she was most interested in showing motherhood and how, at times, it can be "sheer, utter chaos" when kids have endless amounts of energy and are bouncing off the walls all day long.

"I want the audience to feel a bit exhausted after certain segments," she said in a recent interview with The Desert Sun.

"Vlog" was directed/written by and stars Yvonne Strahovski, of "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Dexter."

It was a very personal film to make for Strahovski in a number of ways. Her husband, Tim Loden (who served as producer), and two young sons acted alongside her, and she shot the film in their home. Filming also took place when she was pregnant with her third child, making it an almost part-documentary, part-narrative film.

While her mommy vlogger persona looks stunning when sharing her pregnancy to her thousands of followers, offline she's nauseous, can barely get out of bed and doesn't keep up a regular shower routine. A lot of what's shown is what Strahovski was going through herself, including constant nausea and excessive saliva. As someone who values being real and honest, she felt that all of those moments needed to be a reflection of reality, so she showed off her growing belly and didn't get glammed up for the shoot, not wanting to hide behind any facades, unlike her vlogger character.

When working with her children, Strahovski said she never told them they were making a movie but rather that a bunch of friends would be over at their house and they'd all play together. She also had to be meticulous about what her sons would do in the film.

"I made sure for each scene I had Plan A, B and C if they were not going to want to cooperate," she said. For example, in one scene, one of her boys throws toys on his sleeping parents, which, Strahovski said, he was more than happy to partake in. In another, her two sons place stickers on the goggles she's wearing and they have a little fight with each other, which she thought was "brilliant."

A still from the short film "Vlog," directed by Yvonne Strahovski.

"I just wrote around what might seem really fun for them, but also really visually exciting to see on a screen," the actress continued. To make their performances even more natural, she opted to rig the house with hidden microphones instead of using large boom mics, which can be "so distracting for children," as she's witnessed in her previous work.

She also had to work around not showing her children's faces, which she practices on her personal Instagram. In that same vein, "Vlog" gave the actress an opportunity to reflect on how she presents herself to the world through her very public work and social media pages versus what she chooses to keep private.

"Before all the social media stuff happened, for me it was this idea of rather than who am I going to present myself as on social media, it's who am I going to present myself as on the red carpet and in interviews," Strahovski said. "It's not so much now because the times are changing, but there was so much pressure to be a certain way as a woman and wear a certain kind of outfit and wear makeup and have your hair done a certain way. I think that's lifting in a certain way, but I always had such a love-hate relationship, and probably more on the hate than the love, because I never grew up wanting to dress up and do any of that, but I did and had to for my job."

Most may not be able to relate to the red carpet experience, but Strahovski believes the exploration of duality in "Vlog" is applicable to everyone. Do you present a different version of yourself when sitting down with family during a holiday dinner versus hanging out with friends? Do you only post the good moments from vacation on Instagram and not the gloomy weather or inconveniences that come with traveling? In a way, most people are guilty of putting their best foot forward and omitting the less glamourous moments just like the mommy vlogger.

Strahovski called "Vlog" the "most exciting thing" that she's done in her career, but she also admitted that she's probably going to be the most nervous person in the theater during the ShortFest screening.

"It's kind of a vulnerable place to be in. I feel like I was really gung ho about getting it in something and we're doing the rounds. I've read the article that came out of the lineup of other people who were included and I immediately got very nervous and thought, 'Oh my goodness, take me out,'" she said. "You get so nervous because it's your own thing. But I think more so than that, I'm just super excited to get something out there."

It's helped her to know that other artists feel the same way when they release a project out in the world and that everyone has doubts about whether something they make is good or not. But the most valuable part of making "Vlog" for Strahovski was being surrounded by people who wanted to work with her and believed in her project. Her good friend Mekenna Melvin backed her as a producer, and she had a chance to work again with her "The Handmaid's Tale" collaborators, including cinematographer Colin Watkinson, editor Wendy Hallam Martin and composer Adam Taylor.

"Find your people who enjoy the thing that you want to make, and I think you'd be very surprised. People want to collaborate and do stuff," Strahovski said. "It's a really cool feeling."