The filmmaker, a trained psychotherapist, digs like an archeologist through the remains of five infamous dictators: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco and Mao Tse Tung. The film explores the intimacies of their personal lives -- their weaknesses, sexual preferences, insecurities -- with a combination of quotes and facts sifted from their biographies offered in a calm, soft narrative. That these people, the most infamous monsters of the 20th century, seem so simple and human raises the unnerving possibility that other new dictators may be lurking among us. Irony and humour are sprinkled throughout the film to make its horrifying subject matter easier to digest. Although nothing is said about the mass killings these people ordered, the historical shadow of them hovers over the film like a dark spirit.

Jay Rosenblatt has been making films for the past 18 years. His films have won several awards and have been screened all over the world. The Smell of Burning Ants won the Grand Prize at the Hamburg Short Film Festival and Best of Festival at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. It went on to win 23 awards and has been shown at festivals such as the Locarno International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival and the London International Film Festival. It also had a 2 week theatrical run at the Film Forum in New York. Short of Breath has been shown at the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art. Jay has been a film and video production instructor for the past eight years at various film schools in the Bay Area including S. F. State University, S. F. Art Institute and the College of San Mateo. He also has a Master´s Degree in Counseling Psychology and, in a former life, spent many years working as a therapist.