Cannes 2022 AmPav’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase: ‘Mother in the Mist’ Interview with Kay Niuyue Zhang

Called by Indie Shorts Mag, “tale of tenderness and perseverance” the 20-minute short entitled Mother in the Mist is by a young award-winning director Kay Niuyue Zhang who is Chinese by birth and living in Los Angeles.

The film screened at the American Pavilion’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase during Cannes where it won for Best Student Film, and it stayed in my mind even after I had left Cannes. It is sweet and verges on the sentimental but is saved by the inherent pathos of the story and then again by the story twist at the end which makes you say, “Yes, I understand”. And you do; you feel the pain of the two characters as they join forces to avoid curfew and protocols during the first ever lockdown due to COVID in order to be with their loved ones. The story follows Zhao (Shen Shi Yu), a rural single new mother who has yet to see the preemie daughter she gave birth to, and Snowie (Wang Xi Wen), a mysterious eight-year-old girl who fights her way to the heart of the disaster in the hope of seeing her mother. Together the two embark on a dangerous journey in the midst of the COVID chaos.

There was much to discuss when I met Kay at the American Pavilion to discuss the film. But I started with the basics:

Are you from China?

Yes I was born and raised in Wuhan.

Are you an only child? (I knew of the one-child policy was a program in China that limited most Chinese families to one child each. It was implemented nationwide by the Chinese government in 1980, and it ended in 2016.)

Yes and my parents are very supportive of me.

Do you plan to stay in US or return to China?

I would like to stay in the US. I originally came to do my undergraduate work at Duke in International Comparative Studies, thinking to go on and study law. I also worked as a bilingual production coordinator for a year. I decided to pursue my long-standing love for films and filmmaking and attended USC School of Cinematic Arts for an MFA in Film Production.

It is pretty amazing to see a film made in Wuhan, ground zero for COVID, dealing with a story that might or might not be true.

I heard about this story — it’s about an extended family cousin — and was so moved when I first heard it that I thought I really had to make it into a film. And I was also at the time doing my thesis film for my graduate studies, so I decided that would be the story that was going to be told.

I won’t give the ending away but it made all the difference in the story you were telling.How did you compose the story to tell on film?

I thought a lot about the most effective way to tell the story. It is so dramatic in itself. And doing anything could undermine how truthfully touching it actually was. I thought about doing a documentary, but then shooting reenactments feels kind of staged. So, I was thinking about how to make it an effective story that has an arc. And then it came to me — the idea of the film came to me that the two protagonists in fact meet on the trip, but the trip is not really a trip. It happens in our consciousness and in our dreams. And I added a little bit of melodramatic spice.

It must have been dramatic enough just shooting it in Wuha.

It was shot one year after the lockdown in Wuhan. My own family was from Wuhan, so I knew people and found the shooting very smooth with lots of support. My crew was made of five or six USC alumni and students, all Chinese who happened to be in China at the same time.

Post-production was completely virtual and took place in five different countries simultaneously. Editing took place in a foreign hotel in Beijing, sound and design in L.A., music composing in Lima, the post coordinator was in Taiwan and I myself was in Wuhan.

I noticed that the film won the Gold Medal of the 47th Student Academy Award, the 27th DGA Student Film Award for Best Woman Filmmaker, Best Student Film of the 52nd USA Film Festival and Special Jury Prize at the BAFTA Student Film Awards. You must be very conscious of how you place the film into festivals that will help move the film and your own career forward.

As a director and producer, I have produced several short films and features that have screened at Oscar qualifying film festivals internationally such as Flickers’ Rhode Island IFF, St. Louis IFF, USA Film Festival, and Beijing IFF.

Gratefully, my projects were funded twice by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FOX Fellowship Endowment Fund, Moustapha and Malek Akkad Endowed Fund, Lisa Lu Foundation, Jack Larson and James Bridges Merit Fund and several other generous funds. I also worked as a Key PA in renowned TV and feature films such as Spongebob Squarepants seasons 9–12, Bureau 749 by Chinese director Lu Chuan, and Normal Heros from Alibaba Studios.

What influences your creativity?

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, surrealism, Charlie Kaufman, the lamb as an animal and memory.

Films that reflect nuanced emotions and struggles of diverse children and women evoke my deepest empathy. Thus I surround my creative world with the subtle and sensitive experiences of marginalized and diasporic children and women.

I learned French in college and I like languages. I need to tell stories about people crossing boundaries, people finding selves in new situations.

My creativity is inspired by my experience as an international citizen who constantly crosses borders both physically and culturally.

What are you working on now?

I had intended to shoot a fiction feature for my thesis film but COVID struck down that idea so now I am working on that. It is about an international student in the US who accidently takes on a gig for a Chinatown hooker. It has a poetic tone, is atmospheric and goes beyond the story itself in the cinematographic angles and landscape.

America could use some poetics. In film school it is always story, deciding on it, adhering to it.

I am also producing Better Than a Shovel, a comedic horror feature written and to be directed by a fellow USC student, Alex Kamb who was a Sundance Ignite Fellow and to be shot by fellow USC student Quincy Huanxi Li who was also a Student Academy Award Gold Medalist. We want it to go to SXSW and Fantasia Film Festivals.

Thank you Kay. I know we will be hearing more about you soon!

I recommend for my readers further reading about you as the new young talent in the in-depth interview in Script Magazine here. Enjoy!

The trailer can be viewed HERE.

Kay Niuyue Zhan

Mother in the Mist

2021 Narrative Short, 20 min, Color

Director| Writer | Produce by Kay Niuyue Zhang

Film Link: https://vimeo.com/557072346 Password Upon request

Film Review: Indie Shorts Mag: Mother in the Mist: The Sting of Sorrow amidst disaster

The 27th Annual DGA Student Film Awards Best Women Student Filmmaker Grand Prize Award Winner

Award Winner Best Student Film 52th Annual USA Film Festival 2022 (Canadian Screen Award Qualifying)

Jury Award Winner American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at 75th Cannes Film Festival Village International

World Premiere: San Diego International Film Festival Official Selection 2021 (Canadian Screen Award Qualifying)

South East Premiere: SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2021

International Premiere: Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2021 (FIAPF Accreditation)

The 58th Golden Horse Awards Live Action Short Film — Semi-Finalist (Academy Award Qualifying)

6th NEW ERA Film Festival (Beijing, China) — Official Selection

Mao International Film Week (Guangzhou, China) — Best director Award Winner

Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival 2021 — Semi-Finalist (Academy Award Qualifying)

UFVA Carole Fielding Grant Semi-Finalist

Moustapha and Malek Akkad Endowed Fund funded & Fox Fellowship Endowment Fund

The American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase 2022 Official Selection of Films

Since 1989, The American Pavilion has offered unparalleled experiences in Cannes to film students and emerging filmmakers from around the world. AmPav’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase provides an opportunity for filmmakers to have their works seen by Cannes Festival and Film Market attendees. Finalist Films from 2020 and 2021 will also be screened at The American Pavilion this year. Each of our four categories of exceptional and diverse 2022 films (Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, LGBTQ+ Showcase, Student showcase and High School Film Showcase) will be showcased to our American Pavilion audiences followed by a live filmmaker Q&A.

Below are the 2022 Jury Award winners

Emerging Filmmaker Showcase Films
BEST SHORT FILM — NOISY 
directed by Cedric Hill

BEST DOCUMENTARY — THE SHOW MUST GO ON 
directed by Paul Grant & Nathan Crane Cohen

Emerging Filmmaker LGBTQ+ Showcase 
BEST LGBTQ+ FILM — ALL THE YOUNG DUDES
directed by William Stead

Emerging Filmmaker Student Showcase
BEST STUDENT FILM — MOTHER IN THE MIST 
directed by Kay Niuyue Zhang (USC)

BEST STUDENT DOCUMENTARY — 
BAD HOMBREWOOD
directed by Guillermo Casarin (USC)

Emerging Filmmaker High School Showcase
BEST HIGH SCHOOL FILM — A PRAYER FOR MY MOTHER: THE EVA BRETTLER STORY 
directed by Ruben Barrett, Raisa Effress, Sophia Evans, Lauren Fuchs, Katie Hadsock-Longarzo, Ian Kim, Eve Levy, Timothy Lim, Asher Meron, Marlon Ochoa, Bella Rahi, Hank Schoen, Olivia Uzielli

EMERGING FILMMAKER DOCUMENTARIES & SHORT FILMS

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THE SHOW MUST GO ON
2021, 17:39 min., USA, Documentary

Producer/Writer/Director: Paul Grant, Nathan Crane Cohen 
Cast: Jeff Whiting, Robin McGee, Sarah Timberlake, Bruce Barish 
At the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic and in the midst of a PPE crisis, Broadway’s resilient community comes together to create the infrastructure to supply frontline medical workers with desperately needed hospital gowns.

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

STONEHEART: AN UNDYING GIFT 
2021, 6:20 min., USA, Documentary

Director: Nicholas Markart 
Producer: Stephen Hilfiker, Nicholas Markart 
Cast: Stephen Hilfiker 
Steve Hilfiker, a heart transplant survivor and father of four, describes his experience facing death, and how his perspective on life has forever changed following the fateful operation.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

7 LBS 8 OZ 
2021, 7:08 min., USA, Animation/Comedy/Drama

Writer/Director: Yoo Lee
Producer: Xin Li, Evelyn Angelica Martinez 
Cast: Frank Thon, Michelle Sohn, Robin Daniels
When a young mother moves into 8th street, Jersey City, NJ, she learns about the value of the community and how her own perception determines her own experiences.

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

CHARLIE AND THE HUNT
2022, 14:31 min., USA, Family/Drama/Coming-of-Age

Writer/Director: Jenn Shaw
Producer: Dannielle Dormer, Anita M Cal, YJ Meira, Tema L Staig, Allison Vanore
Cast: Lauren Ridloff, Nifeoluwa Ramroop, Robert Artz
Charlie and the Hunt is the fantastical journey of Charlie Miles, a little Black-American girl with a taste for adventure. One day, Charlie is playfully spinning in her front yard, experiencing her world from her point of view. As a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adult) kid, she uses American Sign Language while communicating with her deaf mother and sometimes playing with Shirley, her mischievous dog. After seeing her mom frantically search for a meaningful bracelet, Charlie hides that she is responsible. So, on a journey to recover the lost item, Charlie takes off into the wild. She follows her homemade treasure map and disappears into a lush forest filled with breathtaking landscapes and towering waterfalls. While admiring the beauty of nature, she must avoid danger and overcome her biggest fear to find her way to a treasure more priceless than she could ever imagine.

Website | Facebook | Instagram

THE ERRAND 
2022, 11:23 min., USA, Drama

Director: Amanda Renee Knox
Writer: Mira Olsson
Producer: Lara Aslanian, Amanda Renee Knox 
Cast: Naya Johnson, Ezekiel Bridges, Toni Robison-May, Sean Gallagher
When a young girl hitchhiking is picked up by a stranger, who ends up taking whom for a ride?

Trailer | Facebook

MY GIFT 
2021, 13:25 min., Australia, Drama

Writer/Director: Michael Raso 
Producer: Michael Raso, JD Cohen 
Cast: Luke Hoogendyk, Ridhi Prasad, Joshua Fisk, Catherine Ross, Jyotsna Sharma, Susan Ling Young
A young boy is admitted to a hospital for lifesaving treatment. He befriends a young Indian girl who hopes a cure is found to save him before it’s too late.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

IF MY VOICE RANG LOUDER THAN MY SKIN 
2021, 4:29 min., USA, Animation

Writer/Director: Kyra Peters 
“If My Voice Rang Louder Than My Skin” brings to life the story of a teenage boy who craves a life where his skin no longer affects his daily life or how others perceive him. Using 2D animation, the film follows him through the streets of the Bronx, trying to unite his community’s voice through music to rally against the divisive hate against color.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

NOISY
2020, 10:04 min., USA, Drama

Writer/Director: Cedric Hill
Producer: Cedric Hill, Pandora Scooter, Daniel Phillips 
Executive Producer: Dany Bouchedid DP: Valentina Caniglia
Cast: Max Lamadrid, Gabi Faye
Sam gets on the subway to get home. He catches the eye of April. The two of them discover they have way more in common than where they’re heading. Sometimes you need a noisy place to have a quiet conversation.

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

SHUTTER THE DOORS
2021, 13:23 min., USA, Drama

Writer/Director: Sheri Sussman
Producer: Antonio Cortese, Adam Rex
Cast: Ian Buchanan, Billy Wirth
“Shutter the Doors”, starring Ian Buchanan and Billy Wirth, is a short film that captures a moment in time of a man struggling to deal with an unexpected loss in his life.

EMERGING FILMMAKER LGBTQ+ FILMS

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

CANS CAN’T STAND 
2022, 18:42 min., USA, Documentary/Social Justice/LGBTQ+, Yale University

Director: Matt Nadel, Megan Plotka
Producer: Matt Nadel, Wendi Cooper
Cast: Wendi Cooper, Milan Nicole Sherry, CANScan’tSTAND Activists
Since 1982, police have weaponized Louisiana’s Crime Against Nature by Solicitation (CANS) law to terrorize queer/trans Louisianians. CANS Can’t Stand follows a group of Black trans women in New Orleans who are fighting to repeal that law — and advance trans liberation statewide.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

ALL THE YOUNG DUDES 
2020, 8:39 min., USA, Drama/Historical/Music/LGBTQ+, Florida State University

Writer/Director: William Stead 
Producer: Cameron Greco 
Cast: Blake Lafita, Richie Gambardella 
Georgia, USA, 1973. Glam rocker Billy rebels against his conservative high school, inspiring admiration from an unlikely ally with a desire to walk on the wild side…

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

CARINO 
2021, 3:46 min., USA, Animation/LGBTQ+, School of Visual Arts

Writer/Director: Carlos Taborda, Roshel Amuruz, Ashley Williams
In the streets of Cartagena, a young boy embarks on an adventure to find a flower for his crush and win his affection.

Instagram

CUPIDS 
2021, 10 min., USA, Comedy/LGBTQ+

Director: Zoey Martinson 
Writer: Zoey Martinson, Julie Sharbutt 
Producer: Korey Jackson and Devin E. Haqq 
Cast: Melanie Nicholls-King, Toryn Isabella Coote, Julius Sampson, Scarlett London Diviney
In this playful comedy, three kids worry that their beloved school bus driver will be lonely this summer without them. They set out to find her a partner and imagine the perfect matches.

Trailer | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

DON’T LET GO 
2021, 9:33 min., USA, Drama/LGBTQ+, University of Southern California

Writer/Director: Mel Orpen
Producer: Mehmet Gungoren
Cast: Tessa Hope Slovis, Joyce Lee, Lauren Lynn King, Susan Harmon
When Sam and Reggie get engaged, their future seems bright–until a terrible car accident leaves Reggie in a coma. And Sam must confront Reggie’s homophobic mother to fight for a place at her hospital bedside before it’s too late.

Website | Facebook | Instagram

DOTTING THE “I” 
2022, 11:14 min., USA, Romance/Drama/Comedy/LGBTQ+

Writer/Director: Doug Tompos 
Producer: Doug Tompos, Risa Bramon Garcia, Steve Braun 
Cast: Jeff Lorch, Miguel Perez 
In the shadows of an empty office, the poetry of an unlikely kiss helps two men discover a love lost and a love never found.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

IMPERFECTLY COMPLETE
2021, 14:46 min., USA (Subtitles), Drama/Romance/LGBTQ+, University of Southern California

Writer/Director: Bruce Chiu
Producer: Victor Tsao, Chrissy Aung 
Cast: Chrissy Aung, Zaw Myo Htet
Lucy has been taking care of Owen, a blind guitarist she has admired for years. When Owen is about to get his vision back, Lucy faces the struggle of whether to reveal her true identity to Owen.

Website | Instagram

NOAH’S SONG 
2021, 2:57 min., USA, Animation/Romance/LGBTQ+, Vassar College

Producer/Writer/Director: Damián Bonito Zapien 
Noah’s Song is an animation about a transgender man coming out to his partner.

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

SECOND TEAM
2020, 10:27 min., USA, Comedy/LGBTQ+

Director: Ria Pavia 
Writer: Anni Weisband 
Producer: Mayon Denton, Julia Armine, Robert E. Arnold, Anni Weisband 
Cast: Francia Raisa, Danielle Savre, Gigi Zumbado, Greer Grammar, Phill Lewis, Chester Lockhart, Sally Brooks, Akil Jackson, Alexander True Snyder, Catfish Jean, Melissa Greenspan 
A scorned stand-in actor for a hit TV show distorts the script to publicly undress her costar.

Trailer | Website | Twitter | Twitter | Instagram

THE SYED FAMILY XMAS EVE GAME NIGHT 
2021, 11 min., USA, Comedy/LGBTQ+

Director: Fawzia Mirza 
Writer: Kausar Mohammed 
Producer: Amalia Mesa-Gustin, Kausar Mohamed 
Cast: Kausar Mohammed, Vico Ortiz, Meera Rohit Kumbhani, Pia Shah, D’Lo Srijaerajah 
All cards are on the table when a queer Pakistani Muslim woman brings her Puerto Rican partner home for the first time on the family’s annual game night.

STUDENT DOCUMENTARIES & STUDENT SHORT FILMS

Trailer | Instagram

BAD HOMBREWOOD 
2021, 23:45 min., USA, Documentary, University of Southern California

Director: Guillermo Casarin
Producer: Marian Cook, Santos Herrera 
Cast: Phil Lord, Lee Unkrich, Guillermo Del Toro, Melissa Fumero, Ben Lopez, Dr. Laura Isabel Serna, Leslie Arcos, Osiris Pichardo, Jenniffer González Martinez, Anabel Iñigo, Santos Herrera, Guillermo Casarín
For decades, the film industry has confined minorities to stereotypical characters. Now, filmmakers fight to change the Latinx role in Hollywood. Guillermo Casarín, an aspiring young filmmaker, came to the United States from Mexico to pursue his dreams of becoming a film director. Now, he is on the verge of graduating from one of the best film schools in the world, but after experiencing racism in the country and film industry, he finds himself questioning his place in Hollywood. Through compelling interviews–such as Academy Award-winning directors Phil Lord, Lee Unkrich, and Guillermo Del Toro, and Melissa Fumero from the Golden Globe-winning show Brooklyn Nine-Nine–and archival footage, Bad Hombrewood reveals the dark side of Hollywood’s history and the challenges Latinx filmmakers face while trying to succeed in the entertainment industry.

Trailer | Facebook

SPOKESPEOPLE 
2020, 23:30 min., USA, Documentary, University of Southern California

Director: Ryan Mekenian 
Producer: Daniel Sheahan, Stephen Tonti 
Cast: Jeremy Sisto (Narration) 
For Los Angeles natives living in the early 1900’s, bicycles and streetcars shared the road as our primary modes of transportation. But the arrival of the freeway effectively wiped them out. Today, a collective of cycling communities fight for protected bike lanes and road safety; determined to bring a new era of mobility justice to the city..

Trailer | Website | Instagram

MESSAGE SENT
2021, 4:13 min., USA, Animation/Comedy, Cal State University Northridge

Producer/Writer/Director: Ryan C. Lopez 
Cast: Ryan C. Lopez, Danielle Della Porta
When Steven struggles to make his feelings for Liza clear, his Cell Phone comes to life and encourages him to make the most important decision of his young adult life, to trust himself, and take a leap of faith.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

MOTHER IN THE MIST 
2021, 20:51 min., China, Drama, University of Southern California

Writer/Director: Kay Niuyue Zhang 
Producer: Robin Zhongyu Wang, Kay Niuyue Zhang
Co-Producer: Eris Zhao, Jiayun Li Cinematographer: Jiang Du
Cast: Shen Shiyu, Wang Xiwen 
Following Wuhan’s Coronavirus lockdown, a rural single mother embarks on a dangerous journey in search of her preemie newborn baby stranded in Wuhan City Hospital. Against a harsh, grim winter night, she trudges through trials and tribulations, fighting a way around checkpoints. Joining her path is a mysterious eight-year-old girl, who shares the same determination to reunite with her mother in the city. When She finally almost gets to Wuhan, we realize things are not as it seems…

Trailer | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

OVER MY DEAD BODY 
2020, 25 min., USA (subtitles), Drama/Comedy/Family, New York Film Academy

Producer/Writer/Director: Meital Cohen Navarro 
Cast: Mary Apick, Nakta Pahlevan, Bahram Vatanparast, Afshin Katanchi, Mahsa Shamsa 
When a young Jewish Persian-American woman tells her parents that her fiancé is Muslim, they make her choose between him and them.

Trailer | Facebook | Instagram

THE WAR WITHIN 
2021, 25 min., USA (subtitles), Drama, Santa Monica College

Writer/Director: Marta D’Ocon 
Producer: Marina Coutinho, Catharine Dada 
Cast: Sabrina Hartmann, Alan Corvaia, Laura Urgelles, Damián Delgado 
Somewhere in Latin America, a young woman joins a guerrilla army when her entire family is massacred by government troops. She initially thrives, finding strength and independence as a deadly sniper. But her newfound sense of purpose and self-respect come with a high price.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

WUHAN DRIVER 
2021, 14:14 min., USA, Drama, New York University

Writer/Director: Tiger Ji
Producer: Alena Svyatova, Jonathan Sanger 
Cast: Wayne Chang 
At the beginning of the pandemic, a Chinese driver in New York struggles to make ends meet as he picks up passengers on a long and dreary night.

HIGH SCHOOL FILMS

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

A PRAYER FOR MY MOTHER: THE EVA BRETTLER STORY 
2022, 9:58 min., USA, Animation/Documentary, The Righteous Conversations Project

Director: Ruben Barrett, Raisa Effress, Sophia Evans, Lauren Fuchs, Katie Hadsock-Longarzo, Ian Kim, Eve Levy, Timothy Lim, Asher Meron, Marlon Ochoa, Bella Rahi, Hank Schoen, Olivia Uzielli
Producer: C. Lily Ericsson, Carter Beardmore, Sophie Kim 
Exec Producer: Cheri Gaulke, Samara Hutman
Cast: Eva Brettler
A Prayer For My Mother: The Eva Brettler Story is an animated film that chronicles the extraordinary saga of Holocaust survivor Eva Brettler — a child facing brutality and profound loss who finds sustenance in faith and her own dreams for the future. From the loss of her parents to a forced death march across Europe, young Eva survives Ravensbruck and Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camps, the destruction of her family, and the near destruction of European Jewry to emerge, with a tender heart and faith intact, crediting the goodness and decency of helpers and caretakers she encountered along the way.

Trailer | Website | Facebook | Instagram

DEVIL BEAN 
2021, 10:36 min., Australia, Comedy, St. Matthews Catholic School

Director: Jessica Nipperess 
Writer: Sam Paine 
Cast: Sam Paine, Stella Morgan, Reneé French, Charlie French 
After gifting a coffee machine to their father on Christmas, this picture-perfect family is thrown into the jaws of a horror-come-anti-drug flick as their dad’s addiction tears the family apart.

Trailer | Facebook | Instagram

GRETA 
2021, 7:49 min., USA, Drama/Coming of Age, Glendale High School

Writer/Director: Sofie Verweyen 
Cast: Lilah Hayes, Erinn Hayes, Victoria Atkin, Jack Hayes, Maggie Hayes, Eva Langsdorff
A personal, subjective journey into the mind of Greta Thunberg, before realizing her calling as a climate activist. While struggling with mental health issues and bullying because of her Aspergers, she also grapples with a sense of impending doom due to the climate crisis. These same struggles and fears drive her to make change and become the person she is today.

Trailer | Instagram | Instagram

HOTLINE 
2021, 13:21 min., USA, Drama, Pacifica Christian High School

Writer/Director: Andreas Mickelopoulos, Garrett Seabold 
Cast: Isai Palomares, Charlotte Shays, Robert Pitts, Nicolas Kolesnikow 
Three high school boys’ night of prank calls quickly develops into a matter of life and death when an unsuspecting classmate answers the phone.

Trailer

PHO
2021, 11:51 min., USA, Drama, Orange County School of the Arts

Writer/Director: Ethan Chu 
Producer: Ava Encinas
Cast: Khoi Le, Julie Tong, Antone Axten 
After building a seemingly successful life, a man must come to terms with the melancholic truth that he has detached from his Vietnamese culture and subsequently his grandmother, both of which he once held a close relationship with. His grief pushes him through a journey of reflection which reveals to him the perfect recipe to restore the once lost connection.

Trailer | Website | Instagram

SYDNEY 2078 
2021, 9:36 min., Australia, Sci-Fi/Drama, Balgowlah Boys Campus

Producer/Writer/Director: Brady O’Sullivan
Cast: Gordon Carroll
A teenage boy from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, with a fascination for science fiction movies and novels has a vision during the night, leading him on an inter-dimensional endeavour into the future.

Trailer | Website | Instagram | Twitter

THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER
2021, 6:20 min, USA, Documentary, Saint Ann’s School

Producer/Director: Eli Berliner 
Cast: Alan Berliner 
Eli Berliner turns the camera on his father, Alan, a personal documentary filmmaker, whose new body of work approaches sculpture through the eyes of a filmmaker.