# Please Hold (2020 film)
**Please Hold** is a 2020 American live-action short film directed by K.D. Dávila and co-written by Dávila and Omer Levin Menekse, in which a young Latino man is wrongfully arrested by a police drone and trapped in a fully automated jail.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) The 19-minute film is a satire of a privatized, computerized justice system and earned a nomination for the [Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-live-action-short-film) at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) • [2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2022)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | K.D. Dávila (director); screenplay by K.D. Dávila and Omer Levin Menekse[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) |
| Year / country / length | 2020, United States, 19 minutes[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) |
| Genre | Live action; comedy, drama, science fiction[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) • [3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/) |
| Premise | Mateo is arrested by a police drone without explanation and locked in a fully automated jail with no means of recourse[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) |
| Lead cast | Erick Lopez (Mateo), Doreen Calderon (Mamá Torres), Daniel Edward Mora (Papá Torres), Ruben Dávila (Guillermo Lima), John Alton (Ben Saperstein), Greg Karber (Automated Public Defender)[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/) |
| Oscar nomination | Best Live Action Short Film, 94th Academy Awards (2022); the award went to *The Long Goodbye*[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2022) |
| Production / distribution | Scavenger Entertainment; distributed by HBO Max[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
In an alternative-reality version of Los Angeles where police have automated most interactions, Mateo, a twenty-something Latino man, is on his way to work when a police drone arrests him on unknown charges.[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/) • [4](https://www.filmchisme.com/2022/03/24/a-warning-into-a-potential-future-kd-davila-on-her-2022-oscar-nominated-short-please-hold/) He finds himself locked in a fully automated jail with no means of recourse and realizes he has fallen through some kind of crack in the system.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) Surviving will require him to confront the tangled, automated machinery of the American justice system, now run privately, as he looks for a real person capable of fixing the situation.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) The filmmakers describe the journey as Kafka-esque, with Mateo battling the prison's infuriating customer service while struggling to keep his sanity.[5](https://seedandspark.com/fund/please-hold)
## Themes and intent
The film is a social satire aimed at a profit-driven penal system in which marginalized communities shoulder the costs.[5](https://seedandspark.com/fund/please-hold) Speaking in an interview near the time of the Oscar nomination, Dávila called the short a satirical take on the prison system's efforts to strip people of their humanity and trap them in circumstances from which escape seems impossible, and she presented the film as a caution about a possible future.[4](https://www.filmchisme.com/2022/03/24/a-warning-into-a-potential-future-kd-davila-on-her-2022-oscar-nominated-short-please-hold/)
The automation in the story extends beyond policing. The cast includes an Automated Public Defender, played by Greg Karber, and the Correcticorp AI, voiced by Dani Messerschmidt.[3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/) During the crowdfunding campaign the team described an animated public defender called "Scaley", styled after the Clippy office assistant, whose animation was a stretch goal.[5](https://seedandspark.com/fund/please-hold)
## Production
The film was produced by Scavenger Entertainment, with Omer Levin Menekse, Marc A. Mounier, and Diego Nájera as producers.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) Its Seed&Spark crowdfunding campaign raised $16,330 toward the production budget.[5](https://seedandspark.com/fund/please-hold) Farhad Ahmed Dehlvi was the cinematographer, Brian Paison the editor, and David Boman the composer.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) • [3](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/) The film was shot in Los Angeles, California.[6](https://canal12.fr/c12/Page/PleaseHold2020.html)
## Director
K.D. Dávila is a Mexican-American filmmaker and writer from Los Angeles who holds a degree in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton and an MFA in [Screenwriting](https://www.edgepedia.org/screenwriting) from USC.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) *Please Hold* is her directorial debut.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) Her screenplay for *EMERGENCY* took the Best Narrative Short prize at SXSW in 2018 and also received the Special Jury Award at that year's [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival); when *EMERGENCY* was expanded into a feature, produced by Temple Hill for Amazon, it brought her the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance in 2022.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) She has written for television, most recently *Motherland: Fort Salem*.[1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/)
## Release and recognition
The short screened at the 2021 Palm Springs ShortFest and received a special screening at the Tirana International Film Festival in 2022.[4](https://www.filmchisme.com/2022/03/24/a-warning-into-a-potential-future-kd-davila-on-her-2022-oscar-nominated-short-please-hold/) • [1](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/) It was nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 94th Academy Awards, held on March 27, 2022, alongside *Ala Kachuu - Take and Run*, *The Dress*, and *On My Mind*; the winner was *The Long Goodbye* by Aneil Karia and [Riz Ahmed](https://www.edgepedia.org/riz-ahmed).[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2022) The Academy's nominee record lists the film's credited nominees as K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse.[2](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2022)
## Other films of the same title
A separate 2020 American short also titled *Please Hold* was directed by Mya-Breyana Morton for 4B Films, written by and starring Jasmine Ahnie, and deals with a woman named Destiny reaching out for help as a series of unfortunate events leads her toward depression.[7](https://vimeo.com/475272275) Other shorts with similar titles include Pavel Cuzuioc's Austrian documentary *Please Hold the Line* (2020) and Solal Bouloudnine's French short *Please Hold* (2025).[8](https://www.viennale.at/en/film/bitte-warten) • [9](https://en.unifrance.org/movie/64046/please-hold)
## References
1. [Please Hold, Tirana International Film Festival](https://tiranafilmfest.org/films/the-dress/)
2. [The 94th Academy Awards (2022), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2022)
3. [Please Hold - Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/please-hold/cast/2000483066/)
4. [A Warning Into A Potential Future: KD Dávila on her 2022 Oscar Nominated Short, PLEASE HOLD, Filmchisme](https://www.filmchisme.com/2022/03/24/a-warning-into-a-potential-future-kd-davila-on-her-2022-oscar-nominated-short-please-hold/)
5. [PLEASE HOLD, Seed&Spark campaign page](https://seedandspark.com/fund/please-hold)
6. [PLEASE HOLD de K.D. Dávila 2020, Canal12](https://canal12.fr/c12/Page/PleaseHold2020.html)
7. [PLEASE HOLD (Short Film 2020), Vimeo / 4B Films](https://vimeo.com/475272275)
8. [Bitte warten (Please Hold the Line), Viennale](https://www.viennale.at/en/film/bitte-warten)
9. [Please Hold (2025), Unifrance](https://en.unifrance.org/movie/64046/please-hold)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Individual short films*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license